


Call of the Wolf

by Ksue



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-06
Updated: 2015-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-23 19:22:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 21,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1576706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ksue/pseuds/Ksue
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU. On what was supposed to be a routine visit to the Earth Protection Summit, Rose and Ten run into a secret organization bent on harnessing alien power for profit. And they want Bad Wolf. When the villains resort to torturing the Doctor to get to Rose, Bad Wolf calls out to the Universe for help. Eleven and Clara are drawn from one timestream to the other, and the four of them must battle no only the bad guys, but their own feelings as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first foray into Doctor Who fanfiction, so be gentle! That said, I am addicted to feedback, so I'd love it if you'd leave some! Also, I'm American, so while I've tried to make it sound as authentically British as possible, there might be some points that don't ring true. If anyone out there is from the UK and wants to help correct that, let me know!
> 
> There is no specific point during the series where this fic takes place. For Ten and Rose it's vague series 2 after Rise of the Cybermen/Age of Steel, and for Eleven and Clara it's vauge series 7.2. This fic also assumes that at some earlier point Ten and Rose became lovers.
> 
> There will be torture in this fic, though it's not explicit or very detailed. There will also be sexytimes later on. If either of those things bother you, please be warned.

Chapter 1 – Ten and Rose

“Rose!” 

“What?” Rose asks, sighing heavily, though not without smiling, as the Doctor bursts through their bedroom door in all his wild haired, brown pinstriped glory. She knows that tone, that manic giddiness that usually ends up with them locked in some dungeon. 

“Look!” The Doctor thrusts something at her; a heavy piece of cardstock with stylized print. Rose glances away from the mirror she’s using to apply her mascara and takes the paper from him.

“Earth Protection Summit?” Rose asks. She’s never heard of it. Of course the date is in her personal future, 2013, so she isn’t surprised. A lot can happen in six years.

“Yes!” The Doctor’s wide grin lights up his entire face, and Rose’s heart melts a little more. She loves that smile.

“But what is it?” Rose asks. “Obviously something about protecting the Earth, but why do they want you there?” Words from long ago ring in her head; It is defended.

“Well, you know I worked for UNIT that one time. And Dr. John Smith of The University of Gallifrey is still highly regarded as an alien expert.” The Doctor takes her hand and fairly drags her to the console room, bouncing with barely restrained energy.

“And where is The University of Gallifrey?” Rose asks, smiling and poking her tongue out between her teeth. It’s distracting for him, she knows, but it’s such a reflex she can’t help it.

“Somewhere in Ireland, I should think.” The Doctor starts walking around the console, throwing levers and switches, pushing buttons, and hitting things with his mallet. Rose sighs and sinks into the jump seat.

“So we’re going then? I thought you were taking me to Barcelona?” Finally, she adds silently. She’s been hearing about those bloody noseless dogs for so long, and she wants to see them. 

The Doctor comes to stand in front of her, taking her hands in his and brushing his thumbs across her knuckles, an apology in his eyes.

“I’m sorry Rose, but we have to go. I have responsibilities, duties to this world, and this is part of it. I can’t always be here to save the planet, and going to this summit may make all you humans a little more capable of defending yourselves. I promise, when this is over I’ll take you to Barcelona, and then we’ll find a pleasure planet…somewhere on the edge of the universe where all we have to worry about is us,” the Doctor says, lifting her hands so he can brush a kiss to each of her fingers.

“Isn’t that why we spent the last week floating around in the Vortex?” she teases. Images of the two of them hiding away in bed for an entire week, almost an eternity for a man as restless as the Doctor, flits through her head and she feels the stirrings of desire low in her belly.

Before her hormones can really take hold, Rose jumps to her feet and moves towards the console. “Well then, Doctor, allons-y!”

The TARDIS lands them far more gently than usual, and a glance at the monitor shows they’re parked in an alley, set just back from a busy London street. Rose makes to bounce down the ramp like usual, but the Doctor stops her.

“Hold on, I’ve got to get a bio-damper.”

“A wha’?” Rose asks, resuming her place in the jump seat. The Doctor pulls something that looks like a ring out of his pockets and aims his sonic at it.

“Bio-damper. It will mask my biological signature and make me appear human to any sensors that they might be using at the Summit. Something as serious as this, with the political leaders that are going to be around, they’ll most likely be on the look-out for any kind of alien infiltration. This will make sure I don’t set it off.” He slides the ring onto the third finger of his left hand, and Rose tries not to think how good he looks wearing a ring there.   
He probably doesn’t even get the significance; she doubts Time Lords wore wedding rings.

“What about me?” Rose asks, half hoping she’ll get to wear a matching one, just so she can pretend for a minute. The Doctor shakes his head.

“You’re human, you don’t need one.” He reaches out for her hand and as seamlessly as though she’s been doing it her entire life, she slides her fingers through his. “Now then, Rose Tyler, allons-y!”

They spill out of the TARDIS and into the alley. Rose peeks around the corner, spying the London Eye and other landmarks in the distance. It looks exactly like the London she knows, but something about it feels different, foreign. There’s some sense of foreboding, deep in her soul, that says this isn’t her London. Almost the way it had when they crashed the TARDIS in Pete’s World, except this time there are no zepplins in the sky to give away that they’re in a parallel universe. 

“We didn’t fall through the Void again, did we?” she asks. The Doctor frowns at her.

“Why would you say that?” Then he stops next to a lamp post and licks it experimentally. Rose shudders. She kisses that mouth. How many germs did he just expose her to by licking a disgusting London streetlamp? “Nope. We’re in the right universe. Right year, right month, even the right day. We’re right where we’re supposed to be, down to the millisecond.”

Rose snorts. “Now I know something must be wrong.”

“Oi!” Rose giggles and leans into the Doctor, the wrongness of London forgotten. 

The TARDIS parked them several blocks from The O2 arena, where the Summit is taking place. It isn’t yet open in Rose’s London, but it’s under construction. To see it finished and open for use is overwhelming. 

“Wow,” Rose says as they approach the massive venue. Police and what look like private security roam the streets with more and more frequency the closer she and the Doctor stroll to the arena. She clutches the Doctor’s hand tighter. If the Summit is using The O2 as their venue, it’s clearly a large and very public operation. She wonders what could have happened between her own time and the time they’re in to warrant such an event. 

“Doctor…what happened to make this such a huge event? Do you know?” He frowns and shakes his head.

“The timelines are muddled, which means whatever it is…we’re a part of it. Could be just us attending the Summit is what makes us part of it, but it could also be something bigger that hasn’t happened for us yet.” Rose frowns, but isn’t surprised by his answer. Of course if there were an alien event big enough to spawn the Summit, she and the Doctor would be involved. It’s their specialty. 

They stroll closer to the arena. Most people making their way inside are dressed in suits, carrying briefcases or little rolling suitcases. The Doctor will fit in fine in his pinstripe suit; he always does, and even if someone noticed his outfit is slightly out of place, they’ll probably just label him an eccentric professor. Rose, on the other hand, in her jeans and jumper, looks distinctly like she doesn’t belong. 

“If you’re professor John Smith, who am I supposed to be?” Rose asks. The Doctor looks down at her briefly before turning his eyes back to the throngs of people around them. 

“You’re Rose Tyler, my plus one.” She hums, neither pleased nor displeased with his answer. People will probably assume she’s an assistant of some kind, maybe a graduate student if he introduces himself as a professor. She resolves not to worry about her clothes; she’d met Queen Victoria in denim and trainers for God’s sake. 

The closer they move to the O2, the more butterflies explode in Rose’s stomach. Her muscles tense and she worries that the bio-damper won’t work. It wouldn’t be the end of the world, probably. They’d made it out of tougher scrapes than any trouble they could find here, but she can’t stop herself from worrying. They’re finally, properly together, and she doesn’t want to lose him so soon after they got their act together.   
There’s a long queue of people waiting to get into the Summit, and the Doctor was right, the guards are scanning everyone. Each person passes through one of those arches that look like the metal detectors they use in airports in Rose’s time. Her fingers tighten on the Doctor’s. 

“You’re sure the bio-thingie will work?” The Doctor smiles, the skin around his eye crinkling, and he presses a kiss to her head.

“Yep.” They take their places in line, the Doctor first just in case, and Rose lets out a slow breath. 

“Okay.”

Despite taking the time to scan each and every person, quite thoroughly it seems to Rose, the queue moves quickly and the Doctor is next before Rose is ready. 

A guard in all black combat gear, with an array of weapons and restraints at his belt, waves the Doctor under the scanner. The Doctor gives Rose a quick wink and steps through.  
Nothing. 

No alarms, no lights, no commandos dragging the Doctor away. The guard waves him away and he turns to Rose, a triumphant, cheeky grin on his face. Rose smiles, tries not to laugh, and breezes through when the guard waves at her next. 

Sirens blare. 

“What?” the Doctor cries, as Rose looks around for the source of the noise, the alien who set off the sensors. Because it can’t be her. She’s human. It can’t be her. “What?”

“Doctor…” Rose doesn’t know if she’s warning him to stay calm or begging him to fix this, possibly both.

“You’ll have to come with us, Miss,” one of the guards says, stepping forward and reaching for Rose’s arm. She jerks away without thinking, her heart galloping into a rhythm way too fast to be healthy.

“But…”

“Now just one minute…” the Doctor starts. The guard holds up his hand as another flanks Rose’s other side.

“It’s just a precaution, Doctor Smith. Lots of aliens lurking about, trying to catch a ride into this place. We just want to make sure she’s not got a parasite or virus, and fix it right up if she has.” The guard’s tone is soothing, calm, and his grip on Rose’s arm is guiding, not forceful. She breathes a sigh of relief. They just want to help.

The Doctor stares at the guard with narrowed eyes, and Rose can see the Oncoming Storm brewing. It wouldn’t do for him to show his hand now. Rose is human, not an alien, and any test they run will confirm that. She’s probably just got some alien residue on her from their last adventure. Or maybe all the lovemaking she and the Doctor have done over the last week has left some traces of Time Lord on her. Either way, she’s human and it will all be fine.

“Doctor,” she says, making sure his eyes are locked on hers before she continues. “I’ll be fine. Go on, I’ll find you when they’re finished. It’ll just be a mo’.”

The Doctor looks like he wants to say something, but instead he gives a short nod. 

“I’ll see you soon, Rose Tyler.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara and Eleven get into a spot of trouble...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the words of Rachel Berry (even though I don't watch Glee anymore) "I need applause to live!"
> 
> Not actually true, but I would love to hear what you think of this fic so far!

Chapter 2 – Eleven and Clara

Clara is running like she’s never run in her life, and that’s saying something since life with the Doctor means she’s always running from something. 

She lost the Doctor somewhere farther back in the caves, she isn’t sure where and she can’t stop long enough to think about it. The Klaxor chasing them have talons so sharp she can see the razor edges glint in the light, and if she slows down, if they catch her, they could probably slice her clean in half. And they want to, she can feel it. 

Clara curses the Doctor yet again for picking up that stupid egg. He said the aliens were sleeping, that this particular species sleep so deeply, they wouldn’t hear the cloister bells if they rang right next to their ears. It’s why the race was nearly extinct; so many other species are poaching their eggs while mum and dad sleep. Apparently the Klaxor have done a bit of evolving, because the moment the Doctor picked the egg up, mum came awake with a piercing shriek. And even though the Doctor instantly returned it, mum, dad, and several aunts and uncles gave furious chase.

“Doctor!” Clara yells, trying to find him in the madness. She thinks she hears his muffled voice from somewhere behind her, but she can’t be sure.

She comes to a fork in the caves and has only a moment to choose; left or right. She chooses left, she always chooses left, for some reason, and pumps her legs harder. The halls of the cave are dim, and she doesn’t see the dead end until she nearly runs into the wall. Coming up short, Clara’s heart sinks. She can hear the Klaxor behind her. She hears the smooth rustle of its scales as it raises its claws. 

Clara turns to face her death head on. The alien is poised, ready to strike, and Clara takes a deep breath. The alien is so large, it fills most of the hallway, but with its talons raised there’s just enough space to the right of it for her to slip through. If she’s fast enough. She has to be fast enough.

She forces herself not to think about the consequences, because if she does she’ll be frozen with terror and her plan will never work. Instead, she takes a brief moment to steel herself and then dives toward the space. The alien’s claw comes down behind her, and Clara feels the displaced air stir the hairs on the back of her neck. There’s resistance from the red sweater she wears as the alien’s talon catches the fabric, but it slices the sweater clean off and leaves Clara free to run.

She’s made it. She puts on a burst of speed, digging into the uneven ground, hoping to reach the freedom and refuge of the TARDIS soon. 

Her toe catches on a rock, and she falls.

Clara turns as she falls, landing hard on her shoulder and grimacing as sharp edges cut into her skin. Burning pain flares through her arm, but it doesn’t matter. Not if she’s going to die in the next five seconds. 

The alien looms above her, his talon lifted high in the air, ready to cleave her in two. She closes her eyes, but the killing blow never reaches her. Instead she feels a rush of air and hears a grunt somewhere above her and then the piercing shriek of a dying alien. 

Slowly, Clara opens her eyes. Just barely at first, peeking out to see if she should look more fully. Everything seems still. The alien’s body is crumpled on the ground, one of its talons twitching like it might come roaring back to life. Clara opens her eyes the rest of the way and sits up, rocks and gravel from the ground gouging her hands and her knees. Her tights are a shredded mess, she’s sure of it. 

Next to her lies the Doctor. 

“Doctor?” Adrenaline spikes through her as she leans over his prone form, checking for severed limbs or spilled entrails, but there’s only a gash across his chest. It’s deep, but not nearly as bad as it could have been. The Klaxor must have just grazed him. His braces are severed though, and she’s sure he’ll be absolutely petulant about it. Sometimes she feels more like a babysitter than a companion.

“Doctor, come on. Budge up, we’ve got to get you to the infirmary so we can heal up that gash. Come on.” The Doctor stirs and groans. A grimace flashes across his features. Clara reaches for his hands, ready to haul him to his feet. She’s used to a dry coolness when their hands clasp, but this time they feel clammy, like he’s got the flu. His face is sallow.

“Doctor? Doctor!”

Clara firmly pats his cheek, almost a slap really, and he opens his eyes. 

“Hello,” he says, his voice soft and weak. Clara frowns over him. Sweat beads on his forehead…do Time Lords sweat? Clara isn’t sure. Whatever the case, he’s in pain.

“Come on, we’ve got to get to the TARDIS.” She stands and pulls him with her, but he wobbles and slumps into her, almost taking her down again. “Doctor?”

“Venom,” he says through his teeth as he eases himself back to the ground. 

“What?”

“Venom. Fast acting, can’t even regenerate fast enough to beat it.”

“Regen-what?” Clara asks. He’s not making any sense to her. She tries to lift him again, but he waves her away.

“I’m dying.”

“What? Don’t be daft, it’s just a cut. Come on Chin Boy, the dermal regenerator will heal you right up. And if there’s really a venom, I’m sure the TARDIS has an antidote.”

“Nope. No antidote available. Never been able to get a sample of the poison. I’m dying, Clara. Will be gone soon. Don’t worry, though, the TARDIS is set to take you home. Just leave it after it does, let it die. She was a good ship.”

Clara stares at him, unable to fathom the way he’s just sitting back and accepting his own death. Last of the Time Lords, brought down saving an unremarkable human girl. A girl who doesn’t really matter, in the grand scheme of things. Not the way the Doctor does.

“You’re so stupid!” she shouts, grabbing fistfuls of the Doctor’s shirt. White, hot anger floods her veins, crashing over her like a tidal wave. “Why did you do that? Why did you jump in front of it? Now you’re going to die and there will be no more Time Lords and I’m just a girl! Why would you do that Doctor?”

A ghost of a smile passes over the Doctor’s lips and then quickly falls away. Even that small gesture is too much for him now. He strokes his thumb over her knee, the only piece of her he can reach.

“Impossible.”

“What?” Clara asks, sure that he’s delusional now.

“Not just a girl. Impossible. And it was worth it to save my impossible girl.” Clara rocks back on her heels. She can’t just sit there and let him die. There must be something she can do. The TARDIS will help, she’s sure of it.   
Even though the ship doesn’t like her, Clara knows the TARDIS loves the Doctor, and would do anything to help him. 

Clara leaps to her feet and moves towards the dead alien. When she looks closely, she can see the shining beads of venom of the talon, even in the dim light of the cave. The Doctor said he never had a sample. Now he does, if she can get it back to the TARDIS. She surveys the corpse and frowns, realizing there’s no way she can drag the dead weight of the massive Klaxor back to the Doctor’s ship. 

Working as quickly as she can, Clara repositions the alien so that the talon is leaning against a rock. If she can stomp hard enough on the joint where the talon meets hide, it might break and she could carry it back.

A satisfying snap echoes off the walls. 

“Listen, Doctor. You hang on. I don’t care what you have to do, you are not allowed to die. I’ll be back. Do you understand?”

The Doctor manages a nod, and Clara runs.

#

With help from the TARDIS, Clara makes the antidote. There’s far too much waiting, though, and by the time the small vial is ready, almost half an hour has passed. Clara fairly rips it from the machine that created it, pats the console in thanks, and runs back to the Doctor as fast as her legs will carry her, praying that he isn’t dead yet.

“Doctor!” He’s slumped against the wall, skin leached of all color and chest not visibly moving. Clara falls to her knees beside him. “Doctor!”

He grunts in recognition, his eyes open a sliver. Clara nearly sobs with relief. As it is, silent tears stream down her cheeks, splattering onto the Doctor’s trousers. With shaking hands, Clara uncaps the vial and holds it to his lips.

“It’s the antidote. You’ve got to swallow it,” Clara says, tipping the liquid into his mouth. She clamps a hand over his lips, waiting for him to swallow. He does, slowly and grimacing with the effort, and Clara feels like cheering.

“You’ll be okay now, yeah?” Clara asks, her hand settling on his thigh, She squeezed, trying to draw him back to awareness. 

“Oh Clara,” he managed to whisper. “So very brave.”

“Not very.”

“Yes, very. When the TARDIS takes you home…”

“She won’t be taking me home unless you’re the one driving her. You know she’d never listen to me. It’s just as likely that she’ll leave me on some strange planet in the Koyash System rather than taken me anywhere near home. You have the antidote, you’ll be okay,” Clara insists. The Doctor doesn’t look any better, though, and she’s starting to doubt that she brought it back in time. 

“Shh,” the Doctor weakly threads his fingers through hers and gives a feeble squeeze. “Clara, my impossible girl, I am so glad I met you.”

He’s saying goodbye. Clara knows it as clearly as if he actually said the word. There’s so much left to say, so much she wants to tell him. He can’t die, not to save her. He can’t, but if he does…

“My Doctor,” she whispers. She leans in and presses her lips ever so lightly to his brow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the point in our story where light torture starts to play a role. It's not graphic by any means, but if that sort of thing makes you uncomfortable, be warned. 
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated!!!

Chapter 3 – Ten and Rose

Rose doesn't know what to think. The blokes in combat gear are reassuring, telling her over and over that the tests are for her safety, just a precaution, but something in the way they won’t give her any specifics makes her skin crawl. She’s been sitting on a padded table in a stark white room for almost an hour while they draw blood and take scans of her body. She misses the Doctor. 

Taking a deep breath, Rose musters all her courage and stands, edging towards the door.

“Listen, guys, thanks for the concern, but I think if something were wrong we would know by now. So I’m just going to go…”

Rose is stopped by a hand curling tightly around her elbow. A commando with blonde hair and cold blue eyes pulls her back towards the table.

“Sorry Ms. Tyler, you can’t leave just yet. We have to be thorough, fate of the earth and all that. It’ll just be a minute or two more,” he says. Rose tries to discreetly pull herself from his grasp, but his fingers only tighten until it’s all she can do not to whimper. He pushes her down on the table, hard. 

“Look, you can’t just keep me here without telling me anything. I’m human, my blood tests told you that. All the scans told you that. If you haven’t found some alien parasite yet, you’re not going to, so you can bloody well sod off.” Rose fights hard to make sure she doesn’t raise her voice. Behind her, the door opens and quickly clicks shut. She hears the heavy deadbolt lock slide into place and fear spreads like ice through her veins. 

“There’s one place we haven’t looked yet.” And with that cryptic statement, the man attaches a cuff to her wrist. She yanks on it, trying to wiggle free, but it’s as good as an iron shackle.

“Oi! Let me out of this right now!” The man ties her other wrist while a second commando comes forward to trap her legs. Rose pitches her body as hard and as fast as she can, but they’re stronger than her and in moments she’s secured to the table with barely enough slack in the restraints to bend her elbows. 

“She’s all yours,” the first bloke says to someone at the head of the table. A face leans over Rose, with translucent, smoke grey eyes and skin tinted light blue. Long, slender fingers move towards her temples.

“No!” Rose shouts, twisting and turning her head, trying to dodge out of the way. “I don’t give you permission to go inside my head!”

“I don’t need permission, child. They’re going to reward me for my services either way. There’s no way for you to resist, so why don’t you be a dear and just lie still while we see what kind of beastie you really are. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll be something useful, like me.”

Fingers settle at her temples and white hot pain explodes through her skull. 

After a moment that feels like eternity, the fingers fall away and the telepath stumbles backwards, breathing heavily. Rose blinks, trying to clear her blurry vision, but pain spikes through her head again, like the worst migraine she’s ever had times one hundred. 

“Not human…”

“Powerful…too dangerous…”

“…harness it?”

“Wolf. Bad Wolf.”

And then there’s only blackness. 

#

Something is not right. The Doctor knows it like he knows the stars in the sky. Rose has been gone too long, and there’s a current of malice in the air, a certain superiority that only humans bent on destruction and domination can exude. It skitters across the Doctor’s skin like a swarm of invisible insects, making him shudder. 

He loves the human race for its resilience, its ability to evolve and grow, and most of all for its capacity to love, but he has seen all too often how easily this beloved race of beings becomes corrupted by ambition and power. He always feels this same sense of foreboding in the air when that happens. 

As the Doctor makes his way towards the doors marked “AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY,” he has one thought: he should have given Rose a damn bio-damper.

#

When Rose wakes, she’s still tied to the table, but this time the table is adjusted so that she’s sitting up, and there’s a commando seated in a chair before her. He’s holding a large remote in his hands, twisting and turning it, passing it from hand to hand. Drawing Rose’s eye to it. 

“What are you?” he asks. Rose knows, despite the lingering pain in her head and the fear in her heart, that she can’t tell him anything. Not a single thing, no matter what. Even if it kills her. They can’t get their hands on the Doctor.

“Human.”

“That’s a lie. Our telepath confirmed that you are part human, but part something else as well. What is it?”

“I’m one hundred percent human. My mother is a human, my father was a human, my gran and granddad on both sides were human. I am a human,” Rose insists. 

“Ms. Tyler, this is not going to go very well for you if you don’t tell us the truth. We’re trying to help you.”

“No you’re not. You’ve got me strapped to a table! Your blasted telepath invaded my mind, without my permission, and gave me the worst bloody migraine I’ve ever had in my life. You expect me to believe that you’re trying to help me? Don’t be so daft. I’m telling you, I’m human. Completely.”

The man presses a button on the remote and an electric buzzing fills the room. The current hits her a scant moment later. Her muscles seize and her teeth clamp down hard as the charge runs through her. Rose can’t think beyond the pain.

As suddenly as it started, it’s gone. Rose slumps boneless on the table, her breathing harsh. She’s shaking, but she can’t help it. 

“What. Are. You?”

“Human,” Rose gasps. He presses the button.

“How do you control your power? Our telepath says it’s vast, that you could probably destroy the planet with a snap of your fingers. What’s the trigger? How do you use it?”

“You talk too much,” Rose says, even though it takes all of her strength to be sassy. He presses the button again.

“Tell me!”

“I’m telling you the truth, you bloody wanker! I’m human. Whatever your telepath saw, or says it saw, I don’t know anything about it. I don’t know what you want. I’m human.”

The door flies open and a figure in brown pinstripes stumbles into the room. Rose sucks in a breath. They can’t get their hands on the Doctor. If they think a stupid ape like her is powerful enough to torture, she can’t imagine what they’ll do to the Last of the Time Lords. 

“Doctor,” she breathes. His head snaps around and his eyes lock with hers. She can see his shock, the way he practically turns to stone right in front of her. He’s utterly still, staring at her like his impressive Time Lord brain can’t process what’s before him. 

The man with the remote turns to look at the Doctor, and Rose knows he has to escape. Now.

“Doctor, RUN!”

The Doctor leans forward like he’s going to lunge for her, but Rose shakes her head, despite the jarring pain, and screams at him.

“No! Go, Doctor! Go now!” The man runs to the intercom, ready to sound the alarm, as the Doctor flies to her side. 

“Rose, are you okay?” The Doctor fumbles with her restrains, and she fights him every step of the way. She doesn’t matter. Saving his life matters.

“Doctor, these people are evil. Something is going on here. I think they’re looking for aliens with power. You have to go. If you don’t, they’ll hurt you too. I’ll figure out a way out of this, but you have to take the TARDIS and leave. Go where they can’t find you. To the end of the Universe, anywhere, please!”

“Rose…”

His body bows violently and the Doctor falls to the ground, unconscious. The commando stands behind him with some kind of Taser in his hands, still aimed at the spot where Doctor’s right heart had been. 

Terror sweeps through Rose like a hurricane as men in combat gear swarm through the door and surround the Doctor. Rose struggles, bucking and twisting and fighting to get free, to get to the Doctor before they can harm him. The table rocks with the force of her movements, but the restraints don’t give.

One of the men reaches towards the Doctor with a cattle prod and Rose knows that if they manage to stop his hearts, he might regenerate. Or die completely. Neither is an option.   
Something warm floods her veins, chasing away the fear and filling her with strength. There’s a strange song in her head, a song that tells her these men are nothing. Nothing compared to her strength, her power, her love for the Doctor. 

“Don’t touch him.”

The men turn towards her, eyes wide and fearful.

And then yet again, the world goes black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little angst for Eleven and Clara.

Chapter 4 – Eleven and Clara

The Doctor has a gob on him. Clara never really realized it before, how much he talks just for the sake of talking, but after so many hours of silence while his body metabolized the antidote it’s all she can focus on.   
He babbles about everything and nothing at all as he flits around the TARDIS console. She catches only snatches of what he’s saying, things like Barcelona and something about dogs. She distinctly hears the words “next Wednesday.”

It’s those words, the thought of doing this all over again a week from now that really hits Clara hard. This is her life with him; running, always running, running to wonderful things and away from terrifying monsters, and the running will never stop. The monsters and the battles and the fearing for his life will never stop.

How long before something like this happens again? How long before something else gets its hands on the Doctor? And what if next time there is truly no antidote, or she can’t get it in time? Clara takes a deep, shaking breath. The thought leaves a sour feeling in her stomach, like she wants to retch, and a gaping hole where her heart should be. 

She loves him; the Doctor, the childish, caring, ridiculous, brave man who swept her away to the stars. She’s falling in love with him, a little more every day, and it’s terrifying. More terrifying than the Klaxors, or any of the monsters they’ve met so far, more terrifying than the thought of her own injury or death.

It has to stop. Clara can’t love the Doctor, not with the life they lead. She’s already lost her mum, she can’t lose another person she loves. She has to stop it, but she doesn’t know how. How do you stop a force of nature, that magnetic pull that draws her heart towards both of the Doctor’s even while she digs in her heels?

“I want to go home.” The words are strong and clear, which surprises her. The Doctor is still talking. Clara isn’t sure he even heard her. She clears her throat and tries again. “Doctor, I want you to take me home.”

In some corner of his vast consciousness, the Doctor knows he’s rambling, but he can’t seem to help himself. He’s feeling back to normal after the antidote worked its miracles to save his body from the Klaxor venom. He’s got the TARDIS, the old girl faithfully by his side as always. He’s got Clara, his impossible girl, and Wednesday isn’t over yet. What more could he want? So he rambles on, telling Clara all about the beautiful places they can go and the things they’ll see. He figures he owes her something nice, since their last trip did result in his near-death. But no matter. He’ll make it up to her next Wednesday.

He becomes vaguely aware that Clara is talking. It takes a moment before her words finally click in his mind and he stops, his babble cutting off mid-word. Go home? What does she mean, go home?

“But Wednesday isn’t over yet.”

Clara can’t help the broken hearted smile that tugs at her lips. He doesn’t understand. She isn’t sure he ever will.

“I don’t mean until next Wednesday, Doctor. I want to go home.” Hot, stinging tears well in her eyes and Clara tries to blink them away. “I can’t…I can’t travel with you anymore.”

“Why not?” He looks affronted now, like a hotel manager told his place isn’t up to snuff. She wants to leave him? She can’t just leave him! The Doctor isn’t sure where this madness is coming from, and it baffles him. His impossible girl is usually so level headed. What could possibly be making her talk like this?

Clara knows she can’t tell him the truth, at least not the whole truth. Admitting that she’s falling in love with him is so…human and she feels like a silly little girl even thinking it. She isn’t even sure Time Lords fall in love, or understand love the same way humans do. She couldn’t bear to hear anything like that, so she can’t tell him. 

“Because you almost died today,” she finally says. The Doctor scoffs. She wants to leave because of that? Is she serious?

“I did not! Just a little scratch, nothing to worry your head over.” 

“Doctor, you told me you were dying and said goodbye!”

“Momentary lapse. I’m fit as a fiddle!” Clara shakes her head and reaches out to snag the Doctor’s hand as he dances past her. 

“Either way, I thought you were dying. And I thought you were dying because you jumped in front of a deadly alien to save me. The universe needs you, Doctor, I’ve seen enough evidence of that. It doesn’t need me. I’m not important. And if you’re going to jump in front of everything that tries to kill me, and maybe die yourself, then I can’t stay. I can’t be the reason there’s no Doctor.”

This gives the Doctor pause. He hadn’t given much thought to his actions with the Klaxor. He saw it about to carve up Clara and reacted. He’s the Doctor, she’s his companion. It’s his job to protect her. If he knows that Clara is different, that maybe it wasn’t entirely about protecting his travelling companion, he isn’t telling. 

Now, though, he sees that whatever his motivations, his actions have put crazy thoughts into Clara’s head, convincing her she has to leave him for the sake of the universe or some such nonsense. Silly, impossible girl.   
The Doctor cups Clara cheek with his free hand, stroking his fingers over her jaw and chin. If this were any other man, any human man, she might think he wanted to kiss her. 

As he touches her face, the Doctor has the sudden, almost irresistible urge to press his lips to hers, to finally find out what they feel like, what they taste like. Somehow he manages to refrain from such an ill-advised course of action, and attempts to convince her that she’s wrong.

“A thousand years of time and space, and I’ve never met anyone who wasn’t important,” he says softly. Clara offers him a watery smile and then pulls away, standing to slip past him. Her resolve crumbles a little bit with each passing moment, and it will only crumble faster if he’s touching her.

“Maybe so, but none of us are as important as you. Please, Doctor, take me home.”

Her withdrawal stings, and it finally dawns on the Doctor that she might be serious. She really does want to go home, for good. He turns toward her and opens his mouth, ready to say something, anything else that will convince her to stay. Something about the way she resolutely keeps her back to him, shoulders tense and the rest of her body practically screaming at him to leave her alone, convinces him that further efforts would be in vain. And if this is the end of their time together, he doesn’t want to end it on a sour note. So with a sigh, his own shoulders slumping in dejection, he turns.

Looking like a kicked puppy, the Doctor nods and sets the TARDIS controls.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this chapter is short, but I promise we're getting to the good stuff! I'd love to hear what everyone thinks of this so far!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry for the lag between posts! Work has been crazy. But this chapter is nice and long, so hopefully that makes up for it and hopefully the next update will come faster. (Hint: feedback helps. A lot.)
> 
> WARNING: There is torture in this chapter. This is the worst of it, and it isn't especially explicit, but I'm giving you fair warning just in case.
> 
> Enjoy!

Chapter 5 – Ten and Rose

Rose has always thought there could be nothing worse than watching the Doctor suffer a nightmare, unable to do anything but wrap her arms around him and hold him through the night. 

She’s wrong. 

Worse is being forced to listen as the Doctor lives a waking nightmare, and being unable to go to, or even call out to, him. The commandos have them in separate rooms, but the Doctor’s screams filter through the concrete walls until Rose is shaking with rage. 

She’s still restrained to the bloody table, or the wankers holding them hostage would be dead by now. One commando sits in front of her while another stands nearby with a cattle prod, the same one they tried to use on the Doctor. Rose isn’t entirely sure what happened, but they seem scared of her now. 

“What are you?”

“Human.”

“We know that’s a lie. What are you?” Rose grits her teeth and bangs her head back against the table.

“Human! How many times do I have to say it? I’m a bloody human!”

The commando says something into a microphone clipped to his collar. The Doctor’s screams get louder and more anguished. Rose didn’t think that was possible. Tears burn in her eyes as the sounds of torture fill her ears.

“Stop it! I don’t know what you want! Just stop!” 

The noises get louder. Rose can’t distinguish what they might be, and in a way that’s worse. Her mind presents her with possibilities far worse than any they could show her. 

“Please!” 

“Rose!” She nearly sobs at the sound of the Doctor’s voice. It’s hoarse and broken and so soft through the walls she has to strain to hear it, but she listens hard. “Don’t give in, Rose! Escape if you get the chance! Run!”

The Doctor is cut off abruptly with a grunt and a moan of pain. Rose’s whole body trembles. She can’t even entertain the thought of leaving without him. She doesn’t care if she has to tear apart the building and everyone in it, she and the Doctor will escape. 

“You have one more chance to tell me what you are before I have to call my boss. Trust me, you’d rather deal with me,” the bloke says, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees and whispering to her like they’re best mates. Rose wants to spit in his face.

“I’m. Human,” she says, her lips curling into a snarl. The commando leans back, looking disappointed and a little bit relieved at the same time. He calls into his collar for a Mr. Devlin, and then leaves the room, the man with the cattle prod following dutifully behind. 

Rose breathes a sigh of relief and slumps back against the table, all the tension leaving her body. The Doctor’s screams have quieted, and Rose can only hope that means they’ve given him a break until Mr. Devlin appears. She wishes desperately that she could lay eyes on him, confirm for herself that he’s alive, if not well. 

“Doctor?” she calls, as loudly as she can. 

“I’m alright.” He doesn’t sound alright. He sounds the very opposite of alright, but Rose can’t confirm that for herself, so she has to take his word for it. 

“I love you,” Rose says, her voice wavering.

“I love you too.”

Rose closes her eyes, letting those words, words she waited so long to hear, wash over her. They wrap around her like a warm blanket, healing her wounds and lifting her spirit. They will get out of this. They will.   
It feels like ages of waiting in silence for this Devlin bloke to appear, and Rose wonders if that isn’t on purpose, another torture tactic to drive Rose out of her mind. She’s just about to start talking to herself, out loud, when she hears the series of clicks and grinding gears that signal the door unlocking. 

Two commandos come in, flanking a man in a sharp, tailored business suit. He’s tall and lithe, a bit similar to Rose’s first Doctor, except with a full head of jet black hair and a shadow of stubble along his jaw. He would be devastatingly attractive if not for the cold soullessness of his grey eyes. 

He sneers at Rose in greeting. 

“Rose Tyler,” he says in a clipped, posh accent. Chills race across Rose’s skin.

“You’re this Devlin I’m supposed to be afraid of?” she asks. Mr. Devlin’s eyes narrow just slightly and it makes Rose feel like needles of ice are pricking her skin. She understands now why the commandos said she would rather deal with them. 

“I am Mr. Devlin.” He doesn’t address how she should feel about him. Instead, he takes a seat in the empty chair before her and regards her coolly. “Why did you come here today?”  
Rose blinks. So far they’ve only asked her what she is, not why she showed up at the Summit. It throws her for a second. 

“Um, my…boss was invited. I’m his plus one.”

“And your boss is Dr. Smith, who we’ve got in the room next door?” Mr. Devlin asks. 

“Yes.”

“Is he more than simply your boss?”

“No.” Rose’s answer is automatic. She knows that admitting to a relationship with the Doctor other than a strictly professional one will be disastrous. They’re already using him to get to her, and she can’t imagine how their torture would escalate if they knew the truth. 

Mr. Devlin smiles at her like her mother smiles at small children, the kind of smile that’s both condescending and pitying at the same time, and Rose half expects him to pat her on the head.

“Now, Ms. Tyler, we both know you’re lying. Tell me the truth, and I’ll let your lover go.” 

“I’m telling you the truth. I’m human. I don’t know what you think I am or what you want to hear, but I’m human.” Rose is so terrified, she’s lost the ability to be snarky. She honestly doesn’t know what to tell them. She’s human. She’s always been human. Why won’t they just believe her?

Mr. Devlin reaches out to twirl a strand of Rose’s hair around his finger. She flinches and he lets out a soft chuckle. 

“It doesn’t matter if you know what you are or not. Do you know what happened when you thought we were going to hurt Dr. Smith? You glowed. Humans don’t glow, darling. I think that if we can find just the right button to press, you’ll show us what you are yet again. And we will keep pressing that button until we know what your power is and how we can use it.”

Rose jerks her head back so that her hair slides through his fingers and falls from his hands. Fear and anger simmer in her veins as she narrows her eyes. She doesn’t care what they do to her anymore, but they won’t hurt the Doctor. They were scared of her before, maybe she can make them scared of her again.

“You can’t possibly conceive the true measure of my power,” she says. She isn’t sure where the words are coming from, but they appear on her tongue like magic and deep down she knows them to be true, though she doesn’t know how it’s possible. “What you saw before was a wisp, a breath of my potential. Should you somehow manage to unleash the full strength of it, you will wish you’d never been born.”

For a long moment, Mr. Devlin simply stares at her. There isn’t a flicker of fear in his eyes, though his commandos back up a few steps. 

“I think it’s time we reunite the doomed lovers,” he finally says, his voice hard. Rose fights not to sob with relief. To lay eyes on the Doctor, to see for herself the damage they’ve caused, is more than she could have hoped for. 

The blokes in black unbind her and pull her roughly to her feet before shackling her hands in front of her. One bends down to shackle her ankles as well, and it occurs to Rose that this would be the perfect moment to fight for freedom. It might be her only moment, but she can’t bring herself to make a break for it without at least seeing the Doctor first. 

They’re not gentle as they pull her from the room and down the hall. Rose stumbles more than once, and they yank her to her feet before pushing her farther along the way. Though the room where they’re keeping the Doctor is right next to hers, the doors are as far apart as they can be, and the journey feels endless. 

Finally, the commando opens the door and shoves her inside.

The sight of the Doctor is the only thing that keeps Rose from falling. He’s restrained just as she was, but there are wires connected to his head and his bare chest. Every bit of skin Rose can see is black and blue, and he’s covered in cuts that leak blood. Rose knows that the Doctor heals faster than humans, superior Time Lord biology, and he’s been left alone for at least an hour. To still look so battered, Rose can’t imagine what he looked like before. 

The breath leaves her lungs.

“Hello,” the Doctor croaks, trying for a smile but only managing a grimace.

“Oh Doctor,” Rose breathes. She starts forward, desperate to touch him, to kiss him and reassure him, but the bloody bastards hold her back. “Let me go!”

“Now, now, Ms. Tyler. We’ve just given you something you desperately wanted, you must give us something in return before we give you more. What are you?” Mr. Devlin asks. Rose meets the Doctor’s gaze as she responds.

“Human.” 

One of the commandos moves to the Doctor’s side and flips some kind of switch. A current of electricity pulses through the Doctor. His muscles seize and his body bows off the table.

“Stop!” Rose cries. The commando flips the switch off.

#

The Doctor is gasping for air when the man in combat gear stops the electrocution. Even his respiratory bypass can’t keep up with the voltage passing through his body. They’ve put him through the paces, using every method they know to make him scream. He knows it’s for Rose’s benefit, they’ve said as much, so he’s tried to stay quiet, but there comes a point when no one can stay silent through the pain. Not even a Time Lord.

One of his hearts has already stopped beating, and they haven’t given him a respite long enough to start it again. Too much more of this torture and they’ll force him to regenerate, which would be a disaster of epic proportions. Not to mention he doesn’t want Rose to have to live through another one. She stuck by him once, and he’s sure she would again, but he could end up a decrepit old man again, someone she would hate making love to. He doesn’t want that.

“Rose,” he whispers. The man in the suit stops questioning her, and Rose falls silent.

“Yeah, Doctor?”

“Do you remember when I…changed, the last time?” Rose’s eyes flick between him and the man in the suit. The man watches them with shrewd eyes, waiting to see if they’ll give him something more to use against Rose.

“Yes,” she whispers. He sees her swallow hard and he knows what she’s thinking. Not because he’s a telepath, but because he knows her that well. 

“I’m not going to do that again. I’m choosing not to do that again, no matter what. Do you understand?” He spends a moment cataloging each piece of her reaction; her eyes go slightly wide and her heart races. He can see the moisture in her eyes.

“Yes,” she says through her tears. 

“Oh Rose. Whatever happens, I love you. Meeting you, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. You took a scared, broken man and made him whole. You made me better. I love you so much for that, my Rose. Remember that.”

He says everything that’s in his heart, everything he wants her to know when he’s gone. He doesn’t say goodbye.

#

The Doctor is saying goodbye. He isn’t saying the words, but Rose knows that’s what he’s doing. He must be close to regenerating, and he won’t let these mental wankers learn what a powerful weapon they have in him.   
Rose can barely see through her tears and she lifts her shackled hands, trying to wipe them away. She doesn’t want her last view of the Doctor veiled by her tears. 

“Time to go,” Mr. Devlin says. The commandos roughly pull her away towards the door.

“No,” Rose says, trying to race forward. She has to kiss the Doctor, hold his hand one last time. She has to comfort him, let him know that she’ll be okay, even if she barely believes it herself. “No!”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara and Eleven land the TARDIS. Bad Wolf greets them.

Chapter 6 – Eleven, Clara, and Rose

The TARDIS has never been so quiet as it is with Clara sitting behind the Doctor, waiting to go home. Somehow all the usual comforting sounds of his ship are silent, and the Doctor wishes just once for some alarm to sound or some message to appear on the monitor. Just for something to think about other than the fact that his impossible girl no longer wants to travel with him. 

The Doctor can hear Clara shifting restlessly behind him, but he keeps his eyes resolutely on the monitor. It takes concentration, landing his ship in the exact right place. 

Clara sighs heavily. “Doctor, I –“

The TARDIS jerks and lands hard, throwing the Doctor and Clara to the ground in a jumble of limbs. They fight against each other briefly, trying to untangle themselves, before the Doctor jumps to his feet and automatically pulls Clara up with him. 

“What?” he asks, pulling the monitor towards him, as though that will somehow make the view better.

“What happened?” Clara asks. The Doctor shakes his head, even before he starts speaking. 

“I don’t know. We’re in the right time, just not quite the right place. Must have hit a bump,” he says, changing the coordinates. The time rotor groans and the ship shudders, but stays rooted to the spot. 

The Doctor tries again.

“Why won’t you let us leave, Sexy?” the Doctor mutters, stroking bits of the console. The monitor shows a laboratory of some kind, though there aren’t any people about. 

Clara watches as the Doctor mutters to himself and his ship. She feels anxious, like she wants to crawl out of her skin. She just wants to go home. As the Doctor circles the console, Clara approaches the monitor. Sterile white walls greet her. There’s lab equipment everywhere, though it’s all piled up so she assumes this is a storage room of some kind. 

The screen flickers, and two words appear: Bad Wolf.

Clara frowns, but they’re gone just as quickly as the appeared. She has no idea what the words mean, but she doesn’t want to spend the time thinking about it. She wants to go home. If she doesn’t get out of the TARDIS soon, she’ll lose her nerve altogether. 

“I’m sorry, Clara. The TARDIS wants me here for some reason. As soon as we make sure it’s safe, I can put you in a taxi home. We’re in the right time, promise.”  
Clara takes a deep breath and holds it in for a moment, steeling herself.

“Sure. Let’s make sure the world isn’t ending first, though.”

The Doctor blesses her with a wide, goofy grin, the first time he’s smiled since she asked to go home, and the set off outside.

The laboratory is deserted, and it takes them no time at all to make their way to the populated parts of the building. It quickly becomes apparent that they landed in the sub-levels of the O2 arena, and that there’s some grand event going on.

“Why’s there a lab in the O2?” Clara asks as she and the Doctor meander around, gleaning as much information as they can from signage and overheard conversations. 

“Dunno,” the Doctor admits with a shrug. He fishes the psychic paper from the breast pocket of his jacket and shows it to a passerby. “Excuse me, can you remind me the name of this convention?”

The man looks at the Doctor a bit like he’s drooled on his bowtie, but answers. “Earth Protection Summit, mate. Keynote’s going to begin soon. Mr. Devlin has some amazing ideas on new defensive measures.”

Clara lets her gaze wander as she listens to the Doctor questioning the man. It looks like any other professional conference, she imagines. There are tables and booths set up, sales pitches being made, and swag being given away. Hundreds of people skitter about. She notices a banner with the same words from the monitor, Bad Wolf, but she blinks and the banner says something else. 

“Doctor,” she starts, ready to point out the mysterious words. The Doctor turns halfway to her and stops, his eyes focused on something halfway across the room. 

There’s a ginger haired woman, leafing through a folio while a man in a suit talks at her. She rolls her eyes and hands him a piece of paper.

“Donna,” the Doctor breathes. Clara frowns as the Doctor moves towards this Donna person like he’s under a spell. His face splits into a wide grin and suddenly he’s throwing his arms around a stranger.

“Donna!” He cries, holding her tight and swaying side to side. The ginger wrinkles her nose in disgust and shoves him away.

“Oi! Get off me, you pervy git!” Donna shrieks, her voice nearly piercing Clara’s eardrums. The Doctor stumbles back and Donna comes after him with the folio, hitting him around the shoulders and head. The Doctor throws his arms up, trying to block her blows and failing.

“Sorry! It’s…” 

“I’m married, you great lanky animal! You’re not going to charm me into bed! Get off!” Clara can’t help but dissolve into giggles, watching the Doctor try to calm this woman down. Clearly he’s mistaken her for someone else. 

“Donna, I…”

“And how do you know my name? You been spying on me, you floppy haired chin? I bet you have! I have half a mind to call the police! Get away from me!”

Clara is about to step in, save the Doctor from himself, when a howl echoes through the arena, shaking the ground beneath their feet. Clara stumbles and Donna falls to her knees. The words Bad Wolf scroll across every screen and imprint on every banner. 

The Doctor stands, staring at the words, his eyes wide and his fists clenched. Clara has never seen the Doctor so still, not even when she thought he was dead. It’s the kind of stillness that only comes before disaster, the calm before the storm. Clara shivers.

“Doctor, what does it mean?” Clara asks. Finally, the Doctor looks at her. It’s just a quick move of his eyes, nothing else, like he’s keeping still so some great predator won’t see him. 

“The end of the world.”

#

Rose. Rose, Rose, Rose, Rose. 

The name runs through his mind on an endless loop. She’s here, she has to be. There’s no other reason for Bad Wolf. Has she made it back from Pete’s World somehow? Is his metacrisis with her? Or is she from his past? Could he run into himself? The Doctor shakes his head, trying to order his thoughts. Priority one, find Rose.

The arena is in chaos, people terrified that’s there’s been an earthquake, or that the summit is under attack. The Doctor runs, pushing past people cowering and screaming. He has no idea where Clara is. He only knows that he has to find Rose. 

“Doctor! What is Bad Wolf?” Clara asks. She’s right behind him, doing her best to keep up. She’s a good runner.   
His hand snakes back for hers so that he won’t lose her in the crowd, and he heads for a door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.” He’s letting the power of Bad Wolf guide him now, pull him towards Rose.

“I travelled with a girl once, a long time ago. Her name was Rose,” he explains as he and Clara rush down flight after flight of stairs. “We were in a bit of a spot, and she looked into the heart of the TARDIS, took it into herself to save me. Don’t go getting any ideas! It was a stupid thing, she did!”

“What does that have to do with Bad Wolf?” Clara asks, her breath coming in short pants. 

“Bad Wolf is what Rose became when she did that. And ever since then, the words Bad Wolf have meant big trouble.” It’s the most basic answer he can give her. They don’t have time for more.

“How do you know she’s here though?” Clara asks. The Doctor stops cold, halfway down a flight of stairs. He takes Clara by the shoulders and closes his eyes. 

“Can’t you feel it?”

Clara concentrates hard, trying to ignore the sensation of the Doctor’s hands on her. She isn’t sure what she’s supposed to be feeling, except…oh. Clara sucks in a breath. There’s a singing in her head, the most beautiful, golden sound she’s ever heard. It pulses, creating a pull deep inside of her, calling to her. Whispering to her, come child. 

“I’m coming,” she whispers. 

“What?” The Doctor is staring at her, his brow furrowed. Clara gives herself a little shake.

“Nothing, let’s go.”

#

They descend floor by floor until Bad Wolf’s call tells them to stop. They’re back in the underground labs, even lower than his TARDIS is parked. The Doctor peeks through the small window in the door leading to the labs. Several armed guards mill about in the hallway, two flank a door. The Doctor smiles. Rose must have put up quite a fight.

“Follow my lead,” he whispers to Clara. She nods, and he pushes through the door.

“Right, lads! Inspection!”

“What do you mean, inspection?” one guard asks, hefting his gun. The Doctor lifts his psychic paper, silently hoping that these guards aren’t deemed important enough for the psychic training required to see through his trick.

“Oh, Dr. Oswald, so sorry.” The guard is practically shaking in his combat boots. 

“You’ve got the subject contained, then?” The Doctor asks, moving towards the door. Clara follows silently. 

“Yes, sir.”

“And is there a guard with it?” The Doctor fights a tremor at referring to Rose as an “it.”

“No, sir. It’s not stable. That last outburst…it disintegrated Jones, sir. We thought it best…”

“Yes, yes. I want to see it.”

“Sir, that’s not…”

“Who is in charge here?” The Doctor snaps, letting the slightest bit of Oncoming Storm seep through. The guard nods, and moves to the keypad beside the door.

“Be careful, sir.”

The door opens to silence. The Doctor slips inside, Clara right behind. Stark white walls engulf him, drawing his eyes towards the only color in the room, the pink and yellow human huddled in the corner. She lifts her head, snarling at them, her eyes glowing gold. The sight takes his breath away.

“Clara,” he says, taking her by the shoulders. “Stay right here. She’s not stable, she doesn’t know who I am. Not yet. Just…stay back.”

“Be careful, Doctor,” Clara whispers, her eyes on Rose. The tug she felt guiding her here is stronger now, insisting she cross the room to the feral woman in the corner, but Clara fights it. She doesn’t want to do anything that will jeopardize the Doctor. 

The Doctor moves slowly, his hands out in supplication. He makes no sudden movements, no loud noises.

“Oh Rose,” he breathes. “What did they do to you, love? How did you get here? No matter, I’m here now. They won’t touch you again.”

The closer he gets, the more Rose growls. He’s never heard that sound, guttural and wild, from a human being before. Her lips are curled back and the glow in her eyes gets brighter. The Doctor can feel time shifting around him, ready to explode at her whim. 

“Rose, it’s me. It’s the Doctor. Rose, you’re safe now.”

He crouches in front of her, close enough to touch but holding himself back, and meets her eyes. It hurts to do so, to stare straight into the source of her power, but he bears it. She has to see his eyes. 

Rose stares back, her eyes narrowed, shrewd and assessing. And then she gasps.

“It’s you.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clara and Eleven meet Ten and Rose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry it's taken me so long to update! Real life got insanely busy. Hopefully now that it's slowed down a bit, I'll be able to update more regularly. 
> 
> As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Chapter 7 - All

“It’s you.” Rose has never felt such profound relief as she does when she recognizes the eyes of the Doctor, even if he isn’t her Doctor. There’s a longing in his eyes when she recognizes him, a sadness that takes her breath away. 

Unable to stop herself, Rose throws her arms around his neck. He is proof that the Doctor survives this ordeal; someway, somehow, even if he regenerates before they’re safe and sound, he survives. The Doctor staggers a little under the force of her embrace, and for a moment he’s paralyzed. Then he crushes her to him in a hug so tight Rose thinks she may break. 

“How did you find us?” Rose asks, pulling herself away just enough to look this new Doctor in the eyes. A movement over his shoulder draws her attention and Rose sees a young, dark haired girl standing by the door. 

“Rose, I think…”

“Nevermind,” she says, waving her hand. “We’ve got to find…you. My you. They’re hurting him. Wait, how do you not remember this? Hasn’t it already happened for you?”

“Well, yes, but there are measures that I’ll probably take later to make sure I don’t remember anything until I’m supposed to…”

“You’ve got as big a gob as ever, I see,” Rose teases, her tongue poking between her teeth. The Doctor smiles brightly. 

“I’ll see what I can find out about…me. You stay here with Clara. Oh, right, I haven’t introduced you yet. Clara, Rose. Rose, Clara.” The Doctor turns to leave, gesturing Clara forward with a motion meant to tell her it’s safe. Then he turns back to Rose and points at her. “Don’t wander off!”

“Oi!” Rose is laughing as he slips out the door. 

The room is silent for a moment when the Doctor leaves. Rose studies the girl by the door. She can’t be older than her early twenties, and she’s got wide, trusting eyes. She’s cute too. Rose feels a familiarity to her, like someone you know is family but you’ve never met. 

“Clara, right?” Rose asks. Clara comes forward, closer to Rose, and the familiar feeling gets stronger. The singing in her head, which faded to a dull buzz when the Doctor came in, rises in affirmation. 

“Hi,” Clara says, offering her hand. Rose shakes it. 

Holding on to Clara’s hand, Rose tries to call up the memories of Bad Wolf. She knows now that’s what the commandos saw, that some part of it still lives inside of her. The memories from Satellite Five came rushing back when she unleashed Bad Wolf, but they’re fading quickly. Closing her eyes, concentrating on Clara, Rose begs for the memory.

It hits her in an instant. Seeking the timelines and knowing she would not be with the Doctor forever; seeing only pain and death in his future, without her there by his side. She remembers the sorrow, so overwhelming it nearly brought her to her knees. She saw only one solution; someone made for the Doctor, made to save the Doctor when she couldn’t. And she saw a leaf.

With a ragged gasp, Rose tears her hand from Clara’s. 

“What?” Clara asks, her eyes wide with alarm. Rose shakes her head. She feels an overwhelming urge to protect Clara, like a mother bear with her cubs, and she knows instinctively that part of protecting Clara means telling her nothing of her tie to Bad Wolf. 

“Nothing, sorry. Bit of leftover…stuff, in my head. The singing, it’s so loud, it’s distracting sometimes.” 

Clara nods, her eye on the door, waiting for the Doctor to come back. Then she turns her assessing eyes on Rose.

“The Doctor said you didn’t know him yet, was that because of the…stuff?” Clara asks, gesturing vaguely at her head.

“No. I’ve never seen this version of him before. My first Doctor was all black leather and blue eyes, and my Doctor now is just sort of…brown. Lots of pinstripes. And rude. Rude and not ginger.” Rose bites on her lip to stop herself from rambling. The ebb of her power makes her feel shaky, like a junky needing a fix, and she talks to cover it. 

“What do you mean, your first Doctor and your Doctor now? And neither of those are the same as…my Doctor?”   
Rose could smack herself. And the Doctor. Both of them. After her reaction to the Doctor’s regeneration, she was certain he would never again go a single day without at least warning companions that it could happen.   
Apparently, he’s as daft as he ever was. 

“They’re all the same…mostly. Same man, different face. It’s this trick Time Lords have, a way of cheating death. It’s called regeneration.”

The word triggers Clara’s memory of the Doctor’s ramblings after he was poisoned by the Klaxor venom. He’d said it was too fast acting for regeneration to work. So that’s what he’d meant by that. 

“And you’ve never met…mine?” Clara asks. It’s so confusing, differentiating the two. 

“Nope. Must be a future regeneration.” 

“What time are you from?” Clara asks. Rose is dressed like a millennial, there can’t be that many years between them. “I’m from…”

“Stop!” Rose shouts, throwing up her hands. Clara’s words die in her throat. 

“Aren’t you curious? I know I am,” Clara says. Rose shakes her head.

“There’s a whole thing about timelines. Plus, what year you’re from doesn’t necessarily tell me anything about how far removed from my Doctor your Doctor is, or if I travel with your Doctor in my future. He could travel for thousands of years between us, or he could pick you up the day after…I’m gone.” Rose says. Clara hears the waver in her voice.

“Don’t you want to know what happened? Why you don’t travel with him anymore?” Clara isn’t sure she would be able to stand the suspense, faced with someone who could tell her the future. Rose is adamant though, and shakes her head again. She sighs, scrubbing her hand over her face.

“The way he looked at me when I recognized him…there’s only one reason I’ve seen that look in his eyes and I can guess what it means. I’m either dead or lost forever and I don’t need to know which it is.”

Clara has only known Rose for five minutes and yet she wants to hug her, to comfort her. To be faced with such a bleak future, even without the details…Clara can’t imagine it. 

The door to the lab beeps and Rose skitters back a few steps before the Doctor slips in. Both Clara and Rose breathe a heavy sigh of relief. 

“Hello,” the Doctor says, smiling at both women. 

“Hello,” Rose says. “Is he…you, still there?” 

“He is. I think we can get him out, but…he’s in a bad way, Rose. It isn’t going to be easy. I’ll send you and Clara back to…”

“Don’t even think about it,” Rose growls, her eyes flashing gold once again. Clara watches as the Doctor stumbles back and hides a smile. Rose is fierce. “I want to see him.”

“Rose, we can’t waste…”

“I. Want. To. See. Him.” The Doctor sighs, looking so much older to Clara in that instant she wonders how old he actually is. 

“Alright. Come on.”

The Doctor takes her by the arm and readies his psychic paper. Clara follows behind, closely, ready to run if they need to. A flash of the psychic paper tells the guards that the Doctor wants to test Rose’s powers one more time, and they’re let into a second lab without much fanfare.

Before the door closes fully, Rose is running. Clara’s eyes follow her path to a padded table, and the bruised and bloodied man atop it. She sucks in a breath. It’s one thing to hear that there’s another Doctor and another thing to see it.

Rose fairly collapses on top of her Doctor, and before Clara’s eyes they both begin to glow. Golden light seeps from Rose into the Doctor, healing each cut and bruise. The same singing Clara heard before fills the room, though she somehow knows the guards outside would never hear it even if they were here.

The Doctor on the table sucks in a ragged gasp, and shoots up, his eyes wild until they land on Rose.

“Hello,” he says, grinning widely. It is so like and unlike Clara’s Doctor, it takes her breath away.

“Hello,” Rose echoes. And then she kisses him. Not a peck on the cheek like Clara and her Doctor have so often exchanged, but a full on snog with teeth and tongues, so full of relief and passion Clara feels uncomfortable watching it.

The Doctor buries his hands in Rose’s hair and Clara has to turn away. She can actually feel her heart breaking inside of her chest, one small crack that grows and grows until her heart is shattering into a million pieces. She didn’t realize what he meant before, when her Doctor called Rose “love.” Lots of blokes toss that term of endearment around. She should have known the Doctor isn’t lots of blokes.   
How could she have been so blind? He can’t possibly love her, not when this earlier version of him is snogging Rose like she’s life itself. All the more reason for her to leave once they’ve safely escaped. 

Her Doctor clears his throat and tugs at his bowtie.

“Best be on our way, then,” he says, a little too loudly. Rose and her Doctor part slowly, their kisses trickling off like rain.

“Right, yes. Allons-y!” Rose giggles as her Doctor leaps from the table, good as new. He holds out a hand to Rose and wiggles his fingers.

“How are we going to get out with all those bloody bastards out there?” Rose asks. Clara turns towards the door, more in an effort to hide her tears than anything else. “Psychic paper?” 

“Perception filter!” Clara’s Doctor cries, digging into his pockets. He produces two cuffs that look like thin metal bangles and hands them to Rose and her Doctor. “Won’t work forever, but should be enough to at least get us past the guards.” 

“Then what are we waiting for?” Clara asks. She’s eager to be away from this place, so that she can lick her wounds in private. 

The four of them leave the lab, Clara and her Doctor swaggering past the guards like they have nothing to worry about, Rose and her Doctor carefully dodging bodies so they’ll remain unseen. In the stairwell, Rose and her Doctor ditch the perception filters, and they work their way up to where Clara and her Doctor stashed the TARDIS.

Halfway there, the alarm sounds. Lights dim and flashing red lights line the corridor as a wailing siren threatens to deafen them. 

“Attention please, this is Mr. Devlin speaking. The building has been placed on lockdown. We have received credible information that the Summit is under alien attack. Please, stay where you are and remain calm. We are working quickly to neutralize the threat and ensure the safety of all Summit attendees.”

The Doctors turn in unison to Rose and Clara.

“Run!”

The pinstripe Doctor takes the lead, pulling Rose along behind him, Clara behind her. Clara’s Doctor brings up the rear as they tear through the maze of hallways and stairways. They can hear the guards shouting to each other, organizing the hunt. 

The guards catch up quickly. 

“Come on, come on!” Rose’s Doctor shouts, putting on a burst of speed. Clara can see the exit, just a few hundred feet ahead. Hope bursts in her chest. They’re so close.

Gunshots echo like bombs. The two companions duck, trying to avoid bullets, and Clara thinks they’ve safely escaped harm until she hears the distinct wet impact of a bullet hitting flesh and bone. Then another. And another. 

Her Doctor cries out. 

Clara turns just in time to see her Doctor fall to his knees, three spots of dark red blooming fast across his torso, one perilously close to his heart.

“Doctor!”


	8. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven has been shot, and yet again Clara watches him face mortal danger once again.

Chapter 8 – All 

Clara freezes as her Doctor collapses. She thinks he whispers her name, but the blood pounding in her ears is too loud for her to hear anything else clearly. She stands like a statue in the corridor, watching the Doctor bleed to death. It doesn’t matter that bullets are flying around her, or that their chances of escape dwindle by the moment. All that matters is the Doctor lying prone on the floor, in mortal danger again. 

“Rose! Deadlock!” The pinstripe Doctor calls out as he rushes past Clara. Rose dives across the hall, jamming her elbow against a glass plate in the wall and pressing a big red button. Two heavy steel doors slam shut, just as the pinstripe Doctor drags Clara’s Doctor clear.

“Come on, Clara, we need your help,” Rose says gently, moving past her and helping the Time Lord. They each pull one of the injured Doctor’s arms over their shoulders, carrying him between them. 

“Is he going to…to regenerate? Or die?” Clara asks. There are a million scenarios running through her mind, each one worse than the last. Somehow all the crimson blood staining the Doctor’s shirt makes it even worse than the Klaxor venom. 

“Not if we get him to the TARDIS,” the Doctor says, gritting his teeth with the effort of carrying her Doctor. “But he will need a healing coma. Move!”

“Clara,” Rose breaks in, much more gently than the pinstripe Doctor. “Get the door. He’ll be fine. We’ve been in worse scrapes before.”

Clara shakes herself out of her panic induced haze and runs for the emergency exit at the end of the hall, pushing it open ahead of the Doctors and Rose. Once outside, they break into as much of a run as possible while dragging an unconscious, wounded Time Lord, trying to get as far from the building as fast as they can. 

“But, the TARDIS! It’s inside!” Clara cries, as they run. How can they truly escape without the ship?

“We’ll have to leave it for now,” the pinstripe Doctor says. “Mine is just down the street, we’ll go there.”

By some miracle they make it all the way to the TARDIS, standing inconspicuously in an alley. Inside, Clara can’t help but balk. It’s so very different from the TARDIS she knows, with the coral struts and the earthy, organic feel to the console room. She’s so distracted, she nearly misses Rose and the Doctor dragging their burden down a corridor.

“I’ll need to get the bullets out,” the pinstripe Doctor is telling Rose. “We’ll patch him up best we can, the rest is up to him.”

They take him into the med bay, Clara on their heels, and lift him onto a sturdy, padded table. Rose shreds the blood covered shirt while the Doctor gathers the instruments he’ll need, giving him an unimpeded go at his chest. Clara can’t help but gasp at the sight of torn flesh and blood. 

Rose and her Doctor work in tandem, with perfect synchronicity though they barely say a word to each other. Clara can only marvel. She and the bow tie Doctor are a great team, but even they don’t work together so seamlessly. 

“So he won’t regenerate?” Clara asks, finally unable to stand the silence any longer. 

“I don’t know,” the Doctor says, his words terse. 

“Well how does it all work? How bad does it have to be to cause regeneration? What if he can’t regenerate in time? What about…”

“Shut up!” the Doctor snaps, not even sparing her a glance. Tears spring to Clara’s eyes. Normally she can handle rude or harsh words without batting an eye, but the emotions of the day are catching up with her. Suddenly, the fear and uncertainty and frustration at being several steps behind all boil over and Clara hears herself snapping at the one man who can help the unconscious figure on the table. 

“Well pardon me for caring you great bloody git! If you or that ruddy chin over there would ever tell me anything in the first place, I wouldn’t have to-“ Rose cuts her off firmly. “Enough. Both of you.” 

Looking at her Doctor reprovingly as they continue to work, Rose says, “She’s just scared. You know how bad you are about explaining things if it’s not a matter of life and death. Is it any wonder she wants to know what’s going on?” The Doctor grumbles, but carries on working without looking at either of them.

Rose spares Clara a glance. The poor girl is white as a sheet, her eyes wide and unblinking. She remembers being that scared for the Doctor, several times over. Looking back at the two men, one conscious and working like a whirling dervish, the other near death, Rose knows her job is done. Her Doctor can handle the rest himself.

“Come on, Clara, let’s go for a cuppa,” Rose suggests, washing her hands of the Doctor’s blood. 

“But…” Clara gestures weakly at the body on the table. Rose can sympathize with being unwilling to leave him. She lays a hand on Clara’s arm, hoping that she offers some measure of comfort.

“Let the Doctor work. It will go better if we aren’t in the way.”

Clara concedes and the two women retreat to the galley. Rose ushers Clara into a seat at the table and starts pulling out the tea things, moving around the galley with such practiced ease, it’s like her own kitchen at home.

“This is just what we need, both of us,” Rose says, putting the kettle on. “A good cuppa can work miracles. I’ve seen it myself. All those tannins and free radicals, just what the body needs.” 

“You ever seen tea cure bullet wounds?” Clara asks, miserably. Rose smiles.

“No, but I have seen it give a healing coma the extra push it needed. Sort of. After the Doctor regenerated, he went into a healing coma. I woke him up too early because we were in trouble so he was having some issues. Tea fixed ‘im right up.” The kettle whistles and Rose sets about making tea just like her mum does. 

“The Doctor will be fine, Clara,” Rose promises. Clara stares at the table, toying with the bracelet on her wrist. 

“I just…how do you know?” Clara asks, her voice plaintive. Rose sets a mug in front of her and then sits down herself. 

“If he was going to regenerate, we would know by now. I promise.”

“I wish I could believe you,” Clara says, her eyes welling with tears. 

“It’s horrible sometimes, living this life with someone you love,” Rose offers. Clara snorts.

“I don’t love the Doctor. I’m fond of him, but I don’t love him,” Clara insists. Rose fights a smile. Clara reminds her so much of herself during her early days with the Doctor, insisting to Jack, Mickey, her mum, even herself that she and the Doctor were not an item and never would be. She told her mum over and over that the Doctor was like a brother to her, but it was more to protect her own heart than anything else. She can hear the same in Clara’s words. 

“Clara,” Rose says, using the tone her mother uses when she wants Rose to tell her the truth. It works wonders on Rose, and she hopes it will work wonders on Clara.

“I don’t!” Clara says, her voice rising sharply. “I don’t.”

Rose doesn’t respond, just sips her tea and waits for more.

“Oh fine, I do. I love him. But I I’m not in love with him. I can’t be.”

“What happened, Clara? Right before you got here?” Rose asks. There’s something in her words that makes Rose think it was big and very bad. Something to do with the Klaxor venom Clara keeps mumbling about. 

“The Doctor wanted to show me an egg, this stupid egg from a Klaxor alien, that’s almost extinct. They have this poison on their talons, and I tripped and the Klaxor was going to kill me.” Clara takes a deep shuddering breath. “But the Doctor dove in front of me and got cut. He said the venom was too fast acting for regeneration, but I didn’t get it at the time. I just thought he was going to die. I convinced the TARDIS to help me make the antidote and it worked but for a good while I honestly thought he was dead.”

Clara falls silent for a moment, but Rose knows there’s more. She can see the girl working it out, the way her jaw clenches and her eyes flit back and forth. Color stains Clara’s cheeks and she takes a deep breath before launching into a tirade.

“And he never even told me about regeneration! He never tells anyone anything! I can’t do it anymore, I can’t watch him be so reckless with his life, so I asked him to take me home. I’m done travelling with him. But we got pulled into the basement of the O2 instead. As soon as I know he’s okay, I’m going home.”

Clara takes a deep, gulping breath, unaware she had so much to say. She’s never been able to talk to anyone about the Doctor though, not really, and talking to Rose remindes Clara of being young and talking to her mum, before she died. 

Rose reaches out and coveres Clara’s hand with her own. 

“Why are you really going home? Because the Doctor is reckless, or because you’re scared?”

“Because I’m scared. I’m scared that if I stay any longer, I’ll fall completely, hopelessly in love with him and then he’ll die or change his face and where will I be?” Clara dashes hot, angry tears away with the back of her free hand. 

“I hate to say it, Clara, but you’re already completely, hopelessly in love with him,” Rose points out. “It won’t hurt any less to leave him now than it will in a year, or five.” 

“Is there any way to stop it?” Clara asks through a teary laugh. Rose smiles gently and shakes her head. 

“The only way to make hurt less is to give in to it. Admit it, embrace it, and it will get better. It won’t ever be perfect, life with the Doctor is not sunshine and flowers no matter how much you love him, but it’s so much better to just give in to it. Stop fighting it. When he wakes up..”

“If he wakes up,” Clara corrects.

“No,” Rose says with a sharp squeeze of her hand. “When he wakes up, you need to talk to him. You need to tell him how you feel. The Doctor may have a young face, but he’s a daft old man. You’ll need to say it first.”

Clara breathes deeply and shakes her head.

“I just don’t think I can.”

Rose opens her mouth to say more, but a sound in the doorway reveals the pinstripe Doctor. Clara turns to look at him, trying to read anything in his face but there’s nothing. He just looks weary.

“Cuppa?” Rose asks. He shakes his head with a gentle smile.

“I’ve removed the bullets, he’s in the healing coma. Now all we can do is wait for him to wake up,” the Doctor says with a pointed look at Clara. “We should all get some rest.”

“Do you want to sit with him, Clara?” Rose asks. 

“Yeah, ta,” Clara says absently. 

“You remember the way? The TARDIS will help you find it if you don’t.”

“No she won’t, but I remember. I’m going to stay here a minute, finish this miracle tea,” she says.

“We’re going for a kip,” the Doctor says, holding his hand out and wiggling his fingers for Rose. She dumps her tea in the sink and takes his hand. 

“Yell if you need anything,” Rose insists. Clara nods and watches them go before she turns back to her tea.

She honestly isn’t sure she can face the Doctor yet.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Ten try to ease each other's fears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, I'm a horrible fic author. I'm sorry it's been months since I updated, I really am. For September and October there was really no excuse. November is a different story. For the last year and a half, I've been living and working in Georgia but in November I found out that I got a job back home in Michigan! So November was a flurry of quitting my old job, packing, moving to Michigan, and unpacking, all with Thanksgiving thrown in the mix. Now I'm mostly settled, and I am going to try my very best to make sure I don't go months without updating an in-progress fic again.
> 
> As an apology for my lack of updates, you'll get two chapters today! I'll post chapter ten a bit later on. Hopefully you enjoy! And as always, please leave reviews if you do (or if you don't, I'm not picky).
> 
> Fair WARNING: there's light smut in this chapter.

Chapter 9 – Rose and Ten

Rose leans her head against the Doctor’s shoulder as they walk hand in hand to their room. The adrenaline that’s been coursing through her since she was detained by the commandos is fading fast now that they aren’t running for their lives, and it’s all she can do to stay upright.

“Tired?” the Doctor asks, pressing a kiss to her hair. She nods into his shoulder.

“You?” Though he doesn’t sleep much, Rose knows it’s been days since he slept and the stress of his torture and their escape must be wearing on him.

“I could sleep,” he says, trying to keep his tone light. She snorts. 

The TARDIS moves their room closer so they don’t have as far to walk and they stumble inside. Rose takes a moment to put on sweatpants and a soft, worn tank top while the Doctor shucks his layers until he’s in pants and a vest. It still gives Rose a thrill to see him without the armor of all his layers. 

Together they turn down the bed and slip beneath the covers, lying on their sides facing each other, so close their noses are nearly touching. Between them, the Doctor threads his fingers through Rose’s. 

“I almost lost you today,” Rose whispers, sliding her feet between the Doctor’s so they’re tangled together. 

“I almost lost you, too. Don’t do that again.” The Doctor lifts his chin, closing the scant millimeters between them to press his lips to hers. It’s a ghost of a kiss, just a whisper of his lips across hers, but Rose feels it in her soul. 

“Not planning on it, ta,” Rose teases gently. It’s her turn to kiss him, though she adds a little more pressure when their lips touch. Rose feels a spark jump between them, one that raises gooseflesh on her skin. 

Their kisses begin to linger as they shift closer together. Rose presses her body against the Doctor’s, eager for the reminder that he is still with her, still whole and safe. The Doctor’s arm snakes around her waist, holding her tightly to him, and their kisses shift from tired reassurance to desperate hunger. Rose’s tongue sweeps into the Doctor’s mouth, exploring every crevice even though she’s mapped them a hundred times. 

The Doctor levers himself over her, settling into the cradle of her thighs, pressing into her as he kisses her so deeply Rose can’t tell where he ends and she begins. 

“Doctor,” Rose gasps as he nips at her neck. His hands are everywhere; struggling with the clasp of her bra, tickling her rib cage, lightly tracing the waistband of her sweats, and then his fingers are dipping inside her pants, focusing on the one spot that will unravel her completely. 

The Doctor is pressed against the length of her body, not a breath of space between them, but with the barrier of clothing he’s still too far away. Rose scrambles to remove his vest, yanking it over his head inelegantly, and it becomes a race to see who can unclothe the other first. In his haste, the Doctor rips the strap of Rose’s top.

“Don’t care,” she mutters as her lips crash to his once more. She nearly sobs now that they are skin to skin.

“Love you,” the Doctor growls, sucking hard on her collar bone. Rose’s nails rake down his back, leaving ten angry red streaks, marking him as he’s marking her. 

Rose wraps her legs around the Doctor’s hips, arching into him, relishing the evidence of his desire for her. He’s hot and hard against her stomach and she wants nothing more than for him to fill her, to drive her over the edge. 

“Rose, I can’t…I can’t wait,” the Doctor pants, shifting to align their bodies. Rose shudders violently as he tests her with his fingers and she clutches his shoulders.

“Then don’t,” she manages to gasp. 

The Doctor buries his face in her neck as he slides home, stretching and filling her. For a moment, they’re still, just soaking in the feeling of being physically joined. After a few heartbeats, Rose lifts her hips, changing the angle and a low groan from the Doctor that vibrates against her chest.

“Doctor, please,” she whispers, nipping at his earlobe. The Doctor groans again and pulls out slightly, only to push home and still again. Rose huffs in frustration, wiggling beneath him. The Doctor catches her hip and presses her to the mattress, his fingertips digging into the soft flesh.

“This will be over before it starts if you don’t give me a mo’,” the Doctor says. He speaks more like her when they’re together like this, when the psychic barrier between them is weak. Rose sifts her fingers through his hair and then ghosts her fingertips over his temple and nudges at his mind with her own. 

“Please.” His control snaps the moment the barrier falls, his mind rushing forward to meet hers as he thrusts hard, striving to claim her. 

Pleasure builds in Rose like the tide coming in, slowly and then all at once until she’s shaking with the effort to hold on. She wants them to let go together, to find release as one, and judging by the tension in his shoulders, the Doctor is just about there. 

“Let go,” she pants in his ear. “I love you.”

The Doctor drives into her one last time, holding himself tightly inside her as his body quakes and Rose spasms around him. Her scream is loud enough to shatter the windows, but he can’t hear it over the blood pounding in his ears. 

Exhausted, the Doctor collapses on top of her. Rose tangles her legs with his and wraps her arms around his waist, firmly attaching herself to him. When he moves to roll off of her and let her breathe, Rose whimpers, so he turns them together until she’s sprawled over his chest. He draws up the covers, enclosing them in their own little cocoon. 

“Oh Rose,” he sighs, smoothing his hands down her back. “I love you.” 

Rose can hear in his voice that he finds those three simple words inadequate to truly convey his feelings. He’s told her how he feels in his native language, trying to illustrate the difference, but to her it’s enough. She doesn’t need him to explain exactly how he feels; he shows her every moment of every day. 

One of his hands stays splayed across her back while the other moves to her hair, stroking the golden strands softly. The pleasant tingling in her scalp makes her want to purr.

They lay in silence for a long time, both lost in their own thoughts. So much silence from Rose is unusual, and he can feel her unease through their bond. He shifts a bit to look at her face, checking to see if she’s fallen asleep, but her eyes are open. 

“You all right?” The Doctor asks, pressing a kiss to her head.

“I’m afraid,” Rose says, her voice very quiet in the stillness of their room. 

“Of?” he asks, though he knows exactly what she’s going to say.

“I saw our future today, or your future anyway, and it scares me. I’m not with you anymore.”

“We always knew that would happen someday, Rose,” the Doctor reminds her. His voice is tightly controlled, his body tense, both signs that he’s not feeling as unaffected as his words would suggest. “I’ll outlive you by millennia.” 

“I know. And I know we don’t have all the details, but something about the way the other you looked at me…Doctor, I think whatever separates us is bad and I think it’s soon. It scares me.” Rose presses a kiss to his chest, right over his hearts. 

The Doctor takes a deep breath and wraps his arms around her, holding her tight.

“It scares me too, more than you could ever know. I can’t imagine losing you, Rose, not in a year, not in sixty years. And I don’t understand how he’s still here, still functioning, because right now…right now I go where you go. I’d follow you into the Void. I’d follow you into death, Rose. I don’t think I can bear the pain of losing you.”

A shiver runs through Rose at the sincerity in his words. They fall silent for a long stretch. The Doctor returns to stroking Rose’s hair and she’s nearly asleep when he speaks again.

“We could ask him.”

“What?” Rose props her chin on his chest so she can look at him. He doesn’t meet her gaze.

“We could ask him what happens, so we know. So we’re prepared. He might tell us.” 

Rose studies the Doctor for a moment. His brown eyes, usually so full of fire and love, are glassy with fear. Fear of the unknown, of being alone, for her, maybe all of that, Rose isn’t sure. She is sure that the only other time she saw such fear in his eyes was in and underground bunker in Utah, with the Doctor and a gun in front of her, and a Dalek behind her. 

“I don’t think I want him to,” Rose finally admits, slowly, testing his reaction. 

“No?”

“No. Doctor, I’m afraid of what’s coming, but I’m even more afraid that if we know when or what it is, we’ll try to stop it. Or avoid it, or make sure it never happens at all. We’ll be too careful, and I love this life too much to do that. I love saving planets and people and running for our lives, and I don’t want that to change. I think…we have to let it go and say whatever happens, happens. I wouldn’t change a thing about our life, no matter how it ends.”

The Doctor nods, smiling down at her. He urges her up for a kiss and cuddles her close.

“You are fantastic, Rose Tyler.”

And twined together, they finally drift into sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in one day! Yay! Chapter 11 is almost finished and should be up sometime next week. Enjoy! And review if you do!

Chapter 10 – Ten, Rose, and Clara

Clara can’t let go of the fear gripping her heart. She sits next to her Doctor, the edge of her chair as close to the side of his bed as can be, and fiddles with the blanket covering him. It’s been hours since the other Doctor told her about the healing coma, hours since the other Doctor and Rose disappeared for a kip, leaving Clara alone with an alien she’s rapidly learning she knows nothing about. 

She’s spent those hours staring at the floppy haired man in front of her, counting each rise and fall of his chest. Her hands shake. She knows now that leaving him, leaving the TARDIS, is the right decision. She can’t handle the constant nagging terror that travelling with the Doctor brings. 

“Oh, Doctor,” she whispers, brushing his hair away from his forehead. She thinks how easy it would be to leave now, to just walk away and avoid any awkward or painful goodbyes. She could disappear from his life like a dream. 

She’s just about to rise, to walk out of the TARDIS, when a throat clears behind her. The conscious Doctor is leaning in the doorway, arms and ankles crossed, and his hair in disarray. He looks much more relaxed than when she last saw him, and she hopes the sleep did him some good. 

“It’s no use just sitting there staring at him. Come on, Rose is making supper.”

Knowing her chances of slipping out unobserved are slim, Clara sighs and allows the Doctor to lead her to the kitchen. Rose is standing at the stove, stirring a pot of something. She’s dressed in jeans with a simple, worn vest top, and her hair is damp at the ends, like she showered. 

Clara sits down at the table, watching the Doctor and Rose. She hasn’t had much of a chance to observe them outside of a life and death situation. The Doctor moves behind her, a hand low on her hip as he peers over her shoulder at the pot.

“Could use more thyme,” he says, pressing a kiss to her neck. Clara averts her eyes for moment, feeling intrusive, before her curiosity gets the better of her.

“Stop it,” Rose says, lightly swatting at him. 

“Ooh, what about that spice we picked up in New India? Give it a kick!” The Doctor kicks his leg out and does a little whirl around the room. Rose laughs and shakes her head.

“Not a chance! Last time you used that stuff my mouth burned for a week.”

“It needs something, Rose,” the Doctor whines. “The taste buds of a Time Lord are infinitely complex. I taste things in a way you don’t.”

“Like the lamp post outside? Oh! How ‘bout I throw in some pears?” Rose’s eyes gleam with mischief and the Doctor’s reaction is instantaneous. He scrambles backwards and grimaces, sticking his tongue in and out of his mouth like a dog that’s tasted something bad.

“Ugh! I hate pears!” Rose giggles. The Doctor shakes himself and then smiles at Rose. He sidles closer to her, his fingers tracing along the waistband of her jeans.

“What about that herb from the medicine woman on Mirach?” Rose gasps and the Doctor darts in to kiss her, quickly but so deeply he’s bending her backwards.

“That herb got us in a lot of trouble,” Rose whispers. “And I don’t think we need to subject our guest to that kind of…itch, without any way to scratch it.”

Suddenly, the reality of Rose’s relationship with the Doctor slams into Clara like a punch to the gut. Her face tingles as the blood drains from it, and her chest tightens until she can barely draw a breath. Clara’s heart breaks as she watches them. She didn’t think it was possible to hurt more, but seeing the Doctor and Rose together, so firmly entwined in heart and soul, Clara knows her Doctor can’t possibly love her. Not when the Doctor’s love for Rose is practically screaming from him. Not when her Doctor called Rose love. It all adds up in Clara’s head. Rose is the girl that he loved and lost, his one great, true love, and Clara can never compete with that. 

“I know, jam! It needs jam!” the Doctor suddenly exclaims, racing to the cabinets. The TARDIS holds the door firmly, unwilling to let him subject them to jam. The Doctor braces his foot on the lower cabinets as he pulls, but to no avail.

“What do you think, Clara?” Rose asks. “Should we add jam to the spaghetti?” 

Swallowing down her heartbreak and dismay, Clara feels a laugh bubble up in her throat despite herself. The whole situation is so ridiculous.

“No, I don’t think so.”

The Doctor gives up and flops into the seat across from her, sulking like a child.

“Fine. We’ll just try to enjoy plain, old, boring pasta.” Rose dishes up the food and sets a plate in front of Clara, and then in front of the Doctor, kissing him on the head as she does. He grabs her hand as she moves away and presses a kiss to her fingers.

“Thanks.” She just smiles and nods. Clara wonders how long they’ve been travelling together that they know each other so well. 

Anxious to get home and put all the heartache behind her, Clara pipes up as Rose and the Doctor tuck in.

“What are we going to do about the other TARDIS then?” she asks.

“Get it back, of course,” the Doctor responds, still focused on his boring pasta. 

“Yeah, but how?” Clara persists. 

“That depends. Where did you leave the old girl?”

“I’m not sure, really. On one of the lower levels in a lab being used as a storage cupboard or something, I think. Not so far down as where we found you though.”  
The Doctor makes a non-committal noise in the back of his throat and continues to eat, letting his Time Lord brain work the problem. 

“We can’t just walk through the front door this time,” Rose says.

“I could,” Clara offers. “You’re right, the two of you would be too recognizable, but almost nobody saw me. I could go scout the place, see what we’re dealing with.”

“No.” The words are out of Rose’s mouth almost before Clara can finish saying them. 

“Why not?” Clara snaps. Rose hesitates for a moment, her eyes ticking back and forth between the Doctor and Clara. She opens her mouth to say something, and then   
closes it again. 

“Because I said so,” she finally says.

“Who do you think you are, my mother?” Clara asks, marveling at the audacity of this stranger. “I’m not a child. I’m not your child.” 

Rose’s eyes narrow slightly, like she wants to argue the point.

“I don’t care,” she says. “You’re not going. Look, I’ll go. I’ll wear a bio-damper to get through the scanner, and if I have to wear a perception filter I can wear that too. I’m…connected to the TARDIS, I’ll be able to find her faster.”

“It’s too risky! It will be easier if I go…”

“Rose is right,” the Doctor says, finally piping up. “Clara, you can’t go. Someone needs to stay here with…him, and it should be you. You’re his current companion. He’ll likely be a bit confused when he wakes up, and if he does that when we’re here and you’re not…it could be a disaster.”

“So it’s settled,” Rose says, but the Doctor shakes his head.

“Someone needs to be able to fly the TARDIS back,” he says. Rose gasps.

“No. You’re not going. Doctor, they almost killed you! I’ll use emergency program one.”

“No use,” the Doctor says. “He will have changed it by now, and there’s no telling where it would take you.”

“You could track it with this TARDIS.”

“Can’t. It’s mechanically impossible, one more way to try preventing a paradox. I could track another Time Lord’s TARDIS, but not my own.”  
Rose shakes her head. “You’re going to have to teach me to fly her someday, you know.”

The Doctor reaches for her hand, threading their fingers together.

“I know. But not today.”

“So, what?” Clara jumps in. “You two swan off to get the TARDIS and I just sit here and wait?”

The Doctor looks at her, his eyes twinkling again.

“Yep.” 

Clara huffs as the Doctor pulls Rose to her feet and sets off to find the perception filters.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ten and Rose rescue Eleven's TARDIS.

**Chapter 11 – Rose and Ten**

It’s eerie, Rose thinks, to walk down the street and have everyone’s eyes slide right over you. It’s as though she doesn’t exist, which is fantastic for their mission, but unsettling none the less. She and the Doctor hurry down the street, eager to get in and out with the TARDIS as fast as possible.

“How will we get in?” Rose asks, tightening her hand around the Doctor’s.

“Front door?”

“Too easy,” Rose says. “And they’ll probably still have the building on lock down.”

Sure enough, the main entrance is heavily guarded by more of the commandos. The Doctor is sure that these guards have at least some measure of psychic training, and would see right past the perception filters if he and Rose were to get too close.

“What about a back door?” Rose asks. The Doctor scans the area for a potential entrance and they discuss ways of getting inside. Their heads are bent so close together, and they’re so intent on their task, they never hear the light footsteps coming up behind them.

“Put your hands up and stand slowly.” The woman’s voice behind them shakes a bit as she issues the command. The Doctor watches all the color drain from Rose’s face, and he feels the same happen to his own. His twin hearts gallop into a rhythm so fast he feels faint.

He and Rose turn as they stand, each movement slow and precise so they don’t spook the young commando with her gun trained on them. The Doctor starts edging in front of Rose, wanting more than anything to keep her from suffering more pain and torture. He doesn’t care about himself, only her.

The guard before them looks younger even than Rose, with light hair tied into a severe bun and a heart shaped face that would be pretty if she didn’t look so terrified. The gun in her hands trembles slightly, and the Doctor wonders if she’s ever even used it before.

“It’s you,” she whispers, her eyes darting back and forth between the Doctor and Rose. “You’re the two who broke out of here. Why can’t I see you properly?”

The Doctor nods. No use in lying to her.

“We’re wearing a…cloaking device. How did you see us in the first place? Do you have psychic abilities?”

The girl’s eyes dart around the area, assessing the entire situation. The Doctor waits, barely breathing. He feels Rose’s fingers curl into the back of his shirt, anchoring them together.

“Slight. They’ve been training me, trying to amplify my ability, but so far it’s just barely there,” she finally answers, all in a rush of breath.

“Listen,” Rose says quietly from behind the Doctor. He tenses, wanting to keep as much attention off of her as possible, but not able to stop her. “I don’t know what Mr. Devlin has told you about who or what we are, but we aren’t here to hurt anyone. If you’ll just let us go…”

“Oh! I’m not going to hurt you,” the girl says, her eyes going wide. The Doctor looks pointedly at the barrel of her gun, still trained on his chest. She shakes her head. “Safety’s on. It’s just for show, just in case someone sees us. I want to help you do…whatever you’re doing.”

“Why?” Rose asks. She eases out from behind the shield of his body and the Doctor clenches his fists to stop himself from acting like a caveman, as Rose would say.

The girl frowns, like she’s trying to order her thoughts, and then sighs.

“I lost my sister in Canary Wharf. After that, I was lost. I wanted to do something to help, and Mr. Devlin said that’s what we would be doing; defending the Earth, keeping it safe from outside threats. That’s what I signed up for, not torture. Not killing aliens to harness their power.”

The Doctor badly wants to ask what happened in Canary Wharf, the name itself sends shivers down his spine for a reason he can’t pinpoint, but knows better than to risk damaging the timelines. Rose, silent beside him, is thinking the same thing.

“What’s your name?” Rose asks.

“Jen.”

“Well then, Jen,” the Doctor says, grinning broadly at the rhyme. “If you’re willing to help, we need to get inside. We left something when we escaped, and we need it back.”

Jen nods, biting her lip as she thinks of a way to get them inside. Then she straightens, and tilts her chin towards the back of the building.

“There’s a door in the back, only the guards use it. It’s not guarded because it needs a keycard, a passcode, and a fingerprint to get inside. I can take you in that way.”

The Doctor and Rose set off behind Jen, hoping that Jen’s presence will aid the perception filters in hiding them from view. They get inside with little trouble, and between the Doctor and Rose, they find the TARDIS quickly. It is indeed inside a lab being used for storage.

“I don’t have the security clearance to get in here,” Jen says, sounding dismayed. Rose makes a soothing noise as the Doctor reaches for his sonic.

“Not to worry, I have…” his hand comes up empty. Another search of his bigger-on-the-inside pockets yields the same, nothing. “My sonic…”

“They must have taken it when you were captured,” Rose says.

“I need that sonic, Rose,” the Doctor says, staring at his empty hand. Jen sighs.

“I’ll get it. What’s it look like?” she asks. The Doctor describes it to her. “I was in a room two floors up from here, halfway down the hall on the right. I don’t know if that’s where they would have left it, but it’s a start,” the Doctor says.

Jen nods, “I’ll be back, quick as I can.”

“I don’t know that we can wait for it,” the Doctor says, watching Jen scamper off. Rose trails her fingers over the keypad.

“I could try using Bad Wolf, if there’s anything left,” she offers. She’s never deliberately called it before, but she can still feel the spark of power deep in her mind. She might be able to do it. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, but the Doctor’s hand, cool and hard around her wrist, stops her.

“No!” he hisses, ripping her hand from the keypad. She frowns at him.

“Why not?”

“We don’t know what it’s doing to you, Rose. You’ve used it too much already, we have no idea how this repeated exposure is affecting you, what it’s costing you!”

“Well it’s the only plan we’ve got right now, isn’t it?” Rose counters, her volume rising to rival Jackie’s as she plants her hands on her hips.

“We’ve managed just fine without out it until now! We’ll find another way.” The Doctor’s tone brooks no argument, but Rose opens her mouth to retort anyway. He’s being thick about the whole thing.

She barely gets a breath out before the Doctor throws up his hands.

“What if it’s now?” he snaps. “What if this is the adventure that takes you from me?”

Rose deflates, his terror practically screaming at her through the bond. She takes his face in her hands, plants a kiss on his forehead.

“We can’t live like that, Doctor. We can’t, or it will get worse and worse until all we ever do is float in the Vortex or hang around Mum’s flat.” Rose smiles at the tiny shudder that runs through him. He sighs, his breath warm on her face.

“I’m not saying we avoid life, just that we shouldn’t take unnecessary risks with the power that destroyed the Daleks.”

Rose goes to respond but is interrupted once more by Jen jogging down the hall, the sonic in her hand. She sighs, knowing that the point is moot, and steps back so the Doctor can open the door. They slip inside, Jen close behind them, keeping watch.

The TARDIS is easy enough to spot once they’re inside, though it is partially hidden behind random bits and bobs. The Doctor strides up to it and fits his key into the lock.

Nothing. The key won’t turn. The Doctor pulls on the doors, but they just rattle.

“But…but…” he stammers.

“What? Did you change the locks?” Rose asks, frowning.

“No, key still fits. She won’t let me in!” He presses his forehead to the door, screwing his eyes shut. Rose comes up beside him and lays her palm against the door.

 _I don’t know if you can hear me anymore, old girl, but please let us in. I know this isn’t your current Doctor, and I know we shouldn’t be here, but we’re trying to take you to him. He’s hurt, we’re in trouble, and the only way out is if you let us in. Please._ Rose pushes her thoughts at the TARDIS and feels a fond thrum from the ship. The doors swing open, the Doctor stumbling in and nearly landing on his face.

“What? What?! How did you do that?” he asks. Rose shrugs.

“I asked,” she says.

They continue up the ramp towards the console and it takes them a long moment to recognize that everything is different from the TARDIS they know. It’s cold and clinical and more like a spaceship from the movies might look.

“He’s redecorated,” the Doctor says quietly. Rose shudders.

“I don’t like it,” she says firmly. The Doctor shakes his head.

“Nor do I.” Rose circles the console, trailing her fingers along the sleek buttons and levers, so different from the TARDIS she knows and loves. The warm thrum in the back of her mind, however, is the same and it welcomes her happily. She’s overcome with the sensation that the TARDIS has desperately missed her.

“I’m sorry, for whatever happens,” Rose whispers, stroke the time rotor. Then she shakes her head clear and looks to the Doctor.

“Want to get out of here?” she asks. The Doctor shakes his head.

“One last thing to do,” he says, making his way back to the doors. Jen is hovering outside, her back to the doors. Rose hopes that the Doctor will offer her a trip in thanks for her help.

“What?”

“We have to take care of Devlin, make sure this goes no further.” Rose follows him out, making sure the TARDIS leaves her doors open, and watches as he sits down at a seemingly broken computer. A few moments of tinkering with the sonic and the computer comes to life, the Doctor’s fingers flying quickly over the keyboard. Rose waits silently while he works, wondering what he’ll do. She saw him end Harriet Jones’ career with just six words, surely he can take care of Mr. Devlin just as easily.

After a few moments, the Doctor digs a flashdrive out of his pocket and sticks it into the computer. There’s more typing, and then the Doctor removes the drive with a flourish.

“Jen! Feel like taking this espionage a little further?” the Doctor asks. Jen steps forward, her shoulders back, and holds out her hand for the little plastic stick.

“What is it?” she asks.

“The program that will stop Devlin in his tracks. Take that to Devlin’s headquarters and plug it into his computer, if you can get to it. If not, any computer connected to the network there will do. The program will take care of the rest.”

“Right.”

“Now go, before someone realizes you’re helping us.” Jen nods and goes to salute, but stops herself at the Doctor’s grimace. She turns towards the doors, making her way out, and Rose clears her throat, nudging the Doctor with her elbow.

“What?”

“Thank you. Say thank you.”

“Oh! Jen?” The young commando turns around, and the Doctor smiles at her. “Thank you.”

When she’s gone, the Doctor stands and ushers Rose back to the TARDIS.

“What does the program do?” Rose asks. He shrugs, fiddling with the console.

“A little of this, a little of that; Devlin won’t be a problem anymore. Why won’t she leave?” The Doctor asks. Rose realizes that he’s tried to send them into flight several times, but the TARDIS just shudders and stays put.

Rose feels a stubborn refusal in her mind.

“I don’t think she’s going to let you fly her.”

“She wants me to try emergency program one, but that isn’t going to take us where we want to go,” the Doctor says, sticking his lower lip out in a pout. Rose can’t help but smile at her Doctor.

“Use it. We’ll find a way to get our TARDIS to wherever we end up.” The Doctor sets emergency program one in action, and both he and Rose deliberately avoid watching or listening to the recording, wary of anything that could unknowingly spoil their future. When the TARDIS lands, it’s outside an estate building that looks incredibly similar to the Powell Estates. Rose can only assume that it’s Clara’s home.

As they step outside, the Doctor takes the TARDIS key from around Rose’s neck and presses the sonic to it. Moments later, the sounds of their TARDIS materializing fill the air. It lands just a few feet away from its twin, and the doors open invitingly.

“Shall we go home?” the Doctor asks, holding his hand out and wiggling his fingers.

“We shall.” Rose gives him her trademark, tongue touched grin, and takes his hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New year! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'd love to hear from you either way!
> 
> Just a couple more chapters until this story is done. If that makes you sad, not to worry, I've got my next DW fic in the works already! It's a Human AU featuring Ten and Rose, so keep an eye out for it once Call of the Wolf is officially finished.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, remember I said there would be two more chapters? I was wrong. I really did have this outlined as two chapters, but in writing it I found that it worked so much better as one. Therefore, this is the very last chapter! 
> 
> I couldn't have written this, my very first DW fic, without my friend Marissa, who helped me plot the story and read every chapter to make it better than it was before. And thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing! 
> 
> My next DW fic is in the works and I will start posting it soon. Look for it under the title "A High Class Education." Enjoy!

Chapter 12: All

“I’m going to check on Clara,” Rose says, the moment she and the Doctor enter their TARDIS. She lifts up on her toes to kiss the Doctor’s cheek. Being back in their TARDIS, with its coral walls and warm lighting, has made her giddy. They’re safe, they’re whole, and if she can just get Clara and the new, new, new Doctor to talk to each other, all will be right with the world for the moment. 

At the door to the infirmary, Rose stops. Clara’s dozing, her head resting on the bed next to the Doctor’s, his hand held tightly in hers. The Doctor is shifting, his eyelids fluttering, and the movement wakes Clara. Her head shoots up and she scoots forward.

“Doctor?” She asks in a whisper.

“My impossible girl,” the Doctor rasps. His eyes go soft in the same way they do when Rose’s Doctor looks at her, like she holds his entire universe in her hands. Rose’s heart aches, in the best way, to see how in love with Clara he is. She wants the Doctor to be happy when she’s gone, to find a way to keep going, keep saving people and planets. 

Rose holds her breath, waiting to see how Clara will respond. It’s the perfect opportunity for her to tell the Doctor how she feels, if she’s just brave enough to take it. 

“Doctor!” Clara throws her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly, and the Doctor immediately hugs her back. “Oh God, I was so worried.”

The Doctor pulls back, brushing a lock of hair away from Clara’s face. His fingertips linger on her skin, and Rose feels like she should turn away. It would be the polite thing to do, leave them to their privacy, but she can’t. She has to know. 

Clara leans just slightly into his touch. Rose bites her lip, waiting for Clara to go in for the kiss. It’s the perfect moment, maybe the only moment they’ll get. She knows this dance better than anyone, and she kicks herself every day for not seizing the moment sooner. 

The Doctor’s fingers drift to Clara’s hair, and Rose thinks that maybe he’s learned and is about the make the first move, but Clara stiffens and pulls herself away.

“Tea! You need tea.” She jumps to her feet and turns towards the door, pausing a moment when she spots Rose before hurrying past her. 

Rose sighs, and steps farther into the room. The Doctor has angled the bed into a reclining position, and is sitting comfortably watching Rose move towards him.

“I thought maybe you were a dream,” the Doctor says, holding out his hand. Rose takes it and sits on the edge of the bed.

“Nope, real as can be. How are you feeling?” 

“Good. Ready to go twelve rounds. Thirteen even! I was shot?” the Doctor asks. She knows that his memory is usually still fuzzy after a healing coma, and that he’s trying to sift through what was a dream and what’s reality. 

“You were,” Rose says, holding his hand in both of hers. “More than once.”

“Never been shot before, that’s new!” 

Rose laughs a little, because only the Doctor could treat being shot as something to cross off a bucket list. The Doctor squeezes her hand and she sobers.

“Clara was terrified, especially with this happening so close to incident with the Klaxor venom. Really, Doctor, will you ever explain regeneration to your companions before it happens?” The Doctor has the good sense to look chastised and gives a little shrug.

“Clara’s a brave girl, she’ll be fine in no time.” 

They fall silent for a moment, and Rose wants badly to ask him what he feels for Clara, but she can’t quite manage it. 

“Are you happy?” The Doctor asks her. 

“I am. I never thought I could be as happy as I am right now.” The Doctor nods resolutely. Then he takes a deep breath, his eyes filling with tears. 

“I’m so sorry, Rose.”

“Don’t ever apologize to me, Doctor. Whatever happened, I wouldn’t change it for the world.”

The Doctor nods, but still looks doubtful. Rose smiles gently, knowing that he may never believe he was worth it. Rose squeezes his hand one last time and stands. 

“I’m going to see what’s keeping Clara. I’m glad you’re okay, Doctor.” She leans in and presses a kiss to his cheek.

After leaving the healing Doctor, Rose heads to the galley and finds Clara sitting at the table, her head in her hands and two cool mugs of tea before her. Rose sits down opposite the brunette girl.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” Rose asks, as gently as she can manage. She doesn’t want it to sound accusing, but at the same time she wants to take Clara by the shoulders and shake her. 

Clara laughs, a short, bitter sound, and lets her hands fall to the table.

“How could I, when he is so clearly in love with you? I know you all keep saying he’s regenerated, but the way you were at dinner and the way the Doctor looks at you…”

“My Doctor, Clara. Your Doctor doesn’t look at me that way,” Rose interrupts.

“Yes he does! When he saw you in that room, it was like he saw Heaven. And he called you “love.” You’re just the same! You’re so in love with him, it’s written all over your face any time he’s in the same room. The kind of love you two have, that doesn’t just go away. He won’t just stop loving you and suddenly fall in love with me. And I can’t bear to hear that he doesn’t feel that way. I just…I want to go home. Why are you pushing this so hard?” Clara asks, her words tumbling out in a rush as tears roll down her face. 

Rose looks at the other girl for a moment, considering the question carefully before she responds. 

“You’re right. I love my Doctor desperately, more than I ever thought I was capable of loving anyone, but part of loving the Doctor is knowing that it can’t last forever. That’s just the way it is. That’s why we make the most of the time we have together, why everything seems more intense, because we know that our time will come to an end. You being here, with your Doctor, is proof of that. And when that time comes, I want him to be happy. I want him to continue to be the Doctor, traveling through time and space, having adventures and saving the universe, and I think he needs you to do that.”

Clara gives a little huff, as if she doesn’t believe Rose can be quite so self-sacrificing. Rose grins a little. 

“Don’t get me wrong,” Rose says. “It certainly helps that he has a new face. If he didn’t, I’d probably want to scratch your eyes out for even looking at him.”

The words draw a chuckle from Clara before she becomes serious again, and Rose can tell she’s still struggling with her feelings. 

“If you really want to leave him, the door is right there,” Rose says. “But Clara, he doesn’t love me. I hope he thinks of me fondly, like he does all his former companions. And I hope our time together made him hurt a little less, but he isn’t in love with me. Not in this body.”

“Just because his face changes doesn’t mean he changes. Not deep down,” Clara insists. 

“You’re right. Deep down, regeneration doesn’t change the Doctor. The core of who he is remains the same, but his emotions, his personality, they can change. It’s like…pears! My Doctor, he loves bananas and he hates pears. I haven’t had a pear in ages, because the last time I had one he said he could smell it on my breath and wouldn’t be in the same room as me for three days. How does your Doctor feel about pears?” 

“He doesn’t care one way or the other. He likes fish fingers and custard,” Clara offers.

“Exactly! See, his tastes, his preferences, they change with regeneration. And that means his feelings for me will change. He is not in love with me, Clara. I can promise you that.”

“But…”

“No buts! He’s idiotically in love with you, anyone can see it. Don’t run away because you’re scared. I spent enough time doing that with my Doctor, and I wish I hadn’t.”

They sit in silence for a few moments while Clara tries to process the information. A few minutes later, the pinstripe Doctor appears in the doorway. 

“Now that my future self is awake, we shouldn’t linger. The longer we’re together the more we risk the timelines,” he says. Rose nods and Clara stands.

“I’ll go tell the Doctor. The other one, I mean,” she says and she slips from the room.

“Are you done playing matchmaker?” The Doctor asks, smirking at Rose. She blushes a little and stands to give him a hug.

“I just want you to be happy when I’m not here.”

“I know, love.” 

# # #

Clara and her Doctor stand outside their TARDIS, ready to say goodbye to Rose and her Doctor. The Doctors discuss briefly what steps they’ll have to take to lock away the memories of this adventure for the future while Clara and Rose say goodbye. 

“Talk to him, Clara. Please. For me,” Rose pleads. Clara bites her lip for a moment before she nods. She can’t promise when she’ll talk to him, or if she’ll say exactly what Rose hopes she will, but she’ll talk to him.

“I will, promise.” The girls exchange fond hugs, and then part to bid the Doctors farewell. 

The Doctor in braces and a bowtie pulls Rose into a tight hug, which she gladly returns.

“It was so good to see you, Rose.” He presses a firm kiss to her forehead and then pulls himself away. Rose ducks back into her TARDIS as her Doctor takes Clara’s hand in his.

“Clara. Until we meet again.” He presses a light kiss to the back of her hand and offers her his trademark grin before trailing after Rose. Clara smiles, feeling a blush heat her cheeks, and goes to stand with her Doctor.   
Soon Rose and the younger Doctor are gone, and Clara follows her Doctor into their TARDIS. It’s comforting to Clara to be back in the familiar console room. She sinks onto the jump seat, watching the Doctor as he checks the controls and readouts for signs of damage. He’s uncharacteristically silent. 

Now would really be the perfect moment for Clara to have the talk with him, to tell him what she’s been feeling, at least in part, but every time she thinks of it, fear grips her throat so the words can’t come out. She watches him a moment, waiting to see if he’ll say anything, ask her to stay, tell her he loves her, anything. 

“Well, looks like I’ll be going then….” Clara says, silently begging him to just say something. “See you,” she mutters, when he barely even looks at her. She walks slowly towards the doors. Every step feels wrong. How can she give up this life? How can she give up the Doctor?

She opens the door to the bright courtyard, and is about to step outside when he speaks. 

“See you next Wednesday, my impossible girl?”

Something in his voice makes Clara’s heart trip in her chest. She turns to face him, smiling a cautious smile. He stares back at her, and for the first time she sees what Rose saw. Clara walks slowly towards him, her Doctor, stands on her toes, and brushes her lips softly against his. The contact is so brief that Clara can hardly believe she actually did it, and then she rocks back on her heels.

“Course you will, Chin Boy. Unless maybe you wanted to stay for a while, I’m making soufflé.”

The Doctor grins and slips his arm around her waist, pulling her back to him. He leans down and presses his lips to hers, more firmly than she kissed him. Clara feels the kiss in every part of her body, and she’s left breathless as he pulls back with a wide, goofy grin. 

“Do you have any fish fingers and custard?”

The End


End file.
